Method and apparatus for providing a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network

ABSTRACT

An approach is provided for a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network. A module receives a request to either publish or subscribe to information provided over an ad-hoc mesh network. The module then determines at least one data schema associated with the information, wherein an identification of the information for publication or subscription is based, at least in part, on the at least one data schema.

BACKGROUND

Wireless (e.g., cellular) service providers and device manufacturers arecontinually challenged to deliver value and convenience to consumers by,for example, providing compelling network services, applications, andcontent. One area of development is the use of communication networksand devices to automatically determine information and context about thelocal environment. However, technical challenges relating to powerconsumption, signaling overhead, security, and privacy have hinderedsuch development.

SOME EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Therefore, there is a need for an approach for providing an efficientmechanism for publishing and/or subscribing to information distributedover an ad-hoc mesh network.

According to one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a request toeither publish or subscribe to information provided over an ad-hoc meshnetwork. The method also comprises determining at least one data schemaassociated with the information, wherein an identification of theinformation for publication or subscription is based, at least in part,on the at least one data schema

According to another embodiment, an apparatus comprising at least oneprocessor, and at least one memory including computer program code, theat least one memory and the computer program code configured to, withthe at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive a request toeither publish or subscribe to information provided over an ad-hoc meshnetwork. The apparatus is also caused to determine at least one dataschema associated with the information, wherein an identification of theinformation for publication or subscription is based, at least in part,on the at least one data schema.

According to one embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium carryingone or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executedby one or more processors, cause an apparatus to receive a request toeither publish or subscribe to information provided over an ad-hoc meshnetwork. The apparatus is also caused to determine at least one dataschema associated with the information, wherein an identification of theinformation for publication or subscription is based, at least in part,on the at least one data schema.

According to another embodiment, an apparatus comprises means forreceiving a request to either publish or subscribe to informationprovided over an ad-hoc mesh network. The apparatus also comprises meansfor determining at least one data schema associated with theinformation, wherein an identification of the information forpublication or subscription is based, at least in part, on the at leastone data schema.

In addition, for various example embodiments of the invention, thefollowing is applicable: a method comprising facilitating a processingof and/or processing (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at leastone signal, the (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at least onesignal based, at least in part, on (or derived at least in part from)any one or any combination of methods (or processes) disclosed in thisapplication as relevant to any embodiment of the invention.

For various example embodiments of the invention, the following is alsoapplicable: a method comprising facilitating access to at least oneinterface configured to allow access to at least one service, the atleast one service configured to perform any one or any combination ofnetwork or service provider methods (or processes) disclosed in thisapplication.

For various example embodiments of the invention, the following is alsoapplicable: a method comprising facilitating creating and/orfacilitating modifying (1) at least one device user interface elementand/or (2) at least one device user interface functionality, the (1) atleast one device user interface element and/or (2) at least one deviceuser interface functionality based, at least in part, on data and/orinformation resulting from one or any combination of methods orprocesses disclosed in this application as relevant to any embodiment ofthe invention, and/or at least one signal resulting from one or anycombination of methods (or processes) disclosed in this application asrelevant to any embodiment of the invention.

For various example embodiments of the invention, the following is alsoapplicable: a method comprising creating and/or modifying (1) at leastone device user interface element and/or (2) at least one device userinterface functionality, the (1) at least one device user interfaceelement and/or (2) at least one device user interface functionalitybased at least in part on data and/or information resulting from one orany combination of methods (or processes) disclosed in this applicationas relevant to any embodiment of the invention, and/or at least onesignal resulting from one or any combination of methods (or processes)disclosed in this application as relevant to any embodiment of theinvention.

In various example embodiments, the methods (or processes) can beaccomplished on the service provider side or on the mobile device sideor in any shared way between service provider and mobile device withactions being performed on both sides.

Still other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention arereadily apparent from the following detailed description, simply byillustrating a number of particular embodiments and implementations,including the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. Theinvention is also capable of other and different embodiments, and itsseveral details can be modified in various obvious respects, all withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, thedrawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature,and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, andnot by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a communication system capable of locatingcommunities over an ad-hoc mesh network, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 2A is a diagram of the components of a wireless node including anawareness services module, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 2B-2E are diagrams of the components of an awareness servicesmodule, according to various exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 2F is a diagram of the data structure of a network layer messageheader, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2G is a diagram depicting a power saving scheme of adevice-to-device radio layer, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 3A-3D are flowcharts of processes for locating communities andcommunity members over an ad-hoc mesh network, according to variousexemplary embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for setting a state of a community tochange the visibility of community or community member, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5A is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses used in a querying node, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5B is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses used in a replying node, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 6A-6B are diagrams of a user interface utilized in the process oflocating communities over an ad-hoc mesh network, according to variousexemplary embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for determining a data schema forpublishing or subscribing to information over an ad-hoc mesh network,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process for subscribing to information overan ad-hoc mesh network, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses for delaying subscription queries for information publishedover an ad-hoc mesh network, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process for generating recommendationinformation based on user profile data published over an ad-hoc meshnetwork, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 11 is diagram illustrating the process for publishing andsubscribing to user profile data over an ad-hoc mesh network, accordingto one embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses for publishing user profile data, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses for generating recommendation information based on publisheduser profile data, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a user interface for presenting recommendationinformation generated based on published user profile data, according toone embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of hardware that can be used to implement anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a chip set that can be used to implement anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 17 is a diagram of a mobile station (e.g., handset) that can beused to implement an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A method and apparatus for providing a publish/subscribe mechanism overan ad-hoc mesh network are disclosed. In the following description, forthe purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of theinvention. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that theembodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specificdetails or with an equivalent arrangement. In other instances,well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form inorder to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments of the invention.

As used herein, the term “awareness information” refers to anyinformation and/or context about a local environment as well as theusers and communication devices within the local environment. By way ofexample, awareness information can be used to support applications forcreating social networks, determining presence, determining contextsassociated with a device, advertising, searching for information, etc.Although various exemplary embodiments are described with respect tolocating communities over an ad-hoc mesh network, it is contemplatedthat the approach described herein may be used within any type ofcommunication system or network.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a communication system capable of locatingcommunities over an ad-hoc mesh network, according to an exemplaryembodiment. Information and context comprise “awareness information”that metaphorically equip a communication device with “radio eyes andears” to continuously collect and exchange information with otherdevices in a local environment. However, development of a system forproviding awareness information poses significant technical challenges,particularly in the areas of creating a network for sharing awarenessinformation, locating and organizing awareness information, formingcommunities for sharing awareness information, managing powerconsumption for devices constantly engaged in sharing awarenessinformation, developing applications to take advantage of the awarenessinformation, maintaining the privacy and anonymity of users sharingawareness information, and preventing the proliferation of undesiredmessages (e.g., spam) over the network.

One traditional method of information sharing is through apublish/subscribe paradigm whereby information owners (e.g., publishers)provide information without knowing a priori the specific receivers(e.g., subscribers) of the information or when the subscribers intend toaccess the information. In other words, a publish/subscribe mechanism orparadigm enables the decoupling of space (e.g., parties do not need toknow each other) and time (e.g., parties do not need to be activelytaking part in the interaction at the same time). Historically,implementing a publish/subscribe mechanism is based on creating orotherwise designating a central message broker for registeringpublishers and subscribers. The broker can then store the informationfrom publishers and forward them to relevant subscribers. However, inthe case of various embodiments of the ad-hoc mesh network describedbelow with respect to a system 100 of FIG. 1, the serverless andtransient nature of such a device-to-device network poses significantchallenges for service providers and device manufacturers.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 comprises one or more wireless nodes101 a-101 n optionally having connectivity to a communication network103 through either operator A 105 or operator B 107. The wireless nodes101 a-101 n are mobile terminal, fixed terminal, or portable terminalincluding a mobile handset, station, unit, device, multimedia computer,multimedia tablet, Internet node, communicator, desktop computer, laptopcomputer, notebook computer, netbook computer, tablet computer, personalcommunication system (PCS) device, personal navigation device, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), audio/video player, digital camera/camcorder,positioning device, television receiver, radio broadcast receiver,electronic book device, game device, or any combination thereof,including the accessories and peripherals of these devices, or anycombination thereof. It is also contemplated that the wireless nodes 101a-101 n can support any type of interface to the user (such as“wearable” circuitry, etc.).

In exemplary embodiments, the wireless nodes 101 a-101 n form an ad-hocmesh network 109 for sharing awareness information. The ad-hoc meshnetwork 109 is, for instance, a connectionless and serverlessdevice-to-device network (e.g., a mobile ad-hoc network (MANET)) createdusing short-range radio technology (e.g., wireless local area network(WLAN) or Bluetooth®). Within the ad-hoc mesh network 109, each wirelessnode 101 may be mobile and is within communication range of any numberof other wireless nodes 101. Accordingly, the set of wireless nodes 101a-101 n that is within communication range of any a particular wirelessnode 101 is transient and can change as the wireless nodes 101 a-101 nmove from location to location. As noted above, the serverless andtransient nature of ad-hoc mesh network 109 creates challenges toimplementing a publish/subscribe mechanism over the network 109.

As discussed previously, service providers and device manufacturers thatare developing communication systems and networks for locatingcommunities face many technical challenges. For example, current ad-hocradios (e.g., WLAN and Bluetooth®) are designed for connectivity (e.g.,connectivity via Internet protocol (IP)). However, in an “always on”environment such as the ad-hoc mesh network 109, it is not practical tohave a large number of wireless nodes 101 a-101 n (e.g., mobile handsetdevices) “connected” by, for instance, IP to each other for extendedperiods of time because of power usage and scalability problems.Specifically, a multi-hop connection in a large ad-hoc network typicallyrequires a significant amount of control signaling and power and canquickly deplete a mobile device's battery. Moreover, scalability can bea problem because current ad-hoc radios are typically limited in thenumber of connections and the related signaling that they can support atany given time. Another shortcoming of current ad-hoc radios is thatthey do not adequately protect a user's privacy because they expose theuser's identity through a fixed network address (e.g., a media accesscontrol (MAC) address) associated with the user's device. These problemsare also relevant to the implementation of an efficientpublish/subscribe mechanism over the ad-hoc mesh network 109.

To address these problems, the system 100 creates the ad-hoc meshnetwork 109 for sharing awareness information in a connectionlessfashion. As used herein, the term “connectionless” refers to the abilityof a node (e.g. wireless node 101 a) to send and of all surroundingnodes 101 a-101 n to receive awareness information without the need tosend any prior control signaling. For example, sending awarenessinformation using the transmission control protocol/IP (TCP/IP) over aWLAN ad-hoc is not connectionless because of the two-way TCP controlsignaling between the sending and receiving nodes used to establish theTCP connection. The awareness information is provided, for instance, insmall anonymous messages that are exchanged by the wireless nodes 101a-101 n automatically without user intervention. As used herein, theterm “anonymous” means that it is not possible to infer the trueidentity of the sender from the message, unless the true identity isintentionally included in the message (e.g., by the user or anotherentity authorized by the user). The exchange of awareness informationoccurs as a broadcast message (i.e., a flooding message) from a wirelessnode 101 to neighboring wireless nodes 101 that are within range of theradio of the broadcasting wireless node 101. As neighboring wirelessnodes 101 receive the broadcasted message, each receiving wireless node101 may in turn rebroadcast the message to other neighboring wirelessnodes 101. In this way, the originally broadcasted message propagatesthroughout the ad-hoc mesh network 109. In exemplary embodiments, theextent of the propagation may be limited by criteria such as distance,location, time, etc.

Unlike traditional systems, such messages are for carrying awarenessinformation and are not for transporting content (e.g., files or mediacontaining voice, video, etc.) between two wireless nodes (e.g.,wireless nodes 101 a and 101 b). Instead, the messages contain onlypointers to the content or a small amount of data (e.g. presence orcontext information) to minimize the data traffic transported over thead-hoc mesh network 109. Accordingly, the limited capacity of thecommunication channels associated with such messages, pose additionalchallenges to providing a publish/subscribe mechanism. For example, toaddress this problem, the wireless nodes 101 a-101 n may then access thecontent using other communication channels (e.g., via IP through thecommunication network 103). In addition, the system 100 eliminates theproblems associated with traditional methods for route establishment andmaintenance (e.g., connection based communication protocols), such asmaintaining and handing off connections as mobile devices move, andrequiring high levels of network resources for maintaining connectionsin an environment with a high number or density of mobile devices. Forexample, the event of a wireless node 101 appearing/disappearing to/fromthe network does not generate any control signaling in the ad-hoc meshnetwork 109. Similarly, the system 100 creates routing information onlywhen needed to route replies to queries back to the querying node. Therouting information is generated by using the query messages alone(e.g., no control signaling is used for creating routing information).After the query and subsequent reply process is completed, the routesare forgotten. In other words, the query/reply process of system 100provisions routes for a reply to provide awareness information on demandrather than pushing awareness information from one node 101 to another.In exemplary embodiments, both push (e.g., information is published overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109) and pull (e.g., information is queried fromother nodes 101 a-101 n of the ad-hoc mesh network 109) modes ofdisseminating awareness information are possible. In certainembodiments, it is contemplated that the pull mode of operation can beused instead of the push mode to help suppress potential spam messages.

Moreover, the system 100 optimizes the power consumption of wirelessnodes 101 communicating over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 to enablealways-on operation without seriously affecting the battery life of thewireless nodes 101. For instance, by utilizing only short awarenessmessages, by eliminating the need for any route maintenance signaling,by employing procedures to minimize transmission and reception ofduplicative messages and by enabling an efficient sleep scheme for theshort-range device-to-device radio used within each wireless node 101(allowed by the low latency requirements typical of an awarenessinformation network), the system 100 can potentially provide hundreds ofhours (e.g., over 400 hours) of continuous operation of each wirelessnode 101 between battery charges in a mobile device. The system 100could be seen as a “nervous system” between the mobile devices, wheresmall messages (“nerve impulses”) are continuously exchanged by themobile devices (“neurons”) in order to bring awareness to the user of amobile device about the user's surroundings.

The system 100 also enables the development of new services andapplications based on awareness information (e.g., social networkingapplications, location-based applications, application for determiningpresence, applications for determining context, advertisingapplications). In particular, the continuous and immediate nature of theawareness information with respect to local environment enablescompelling new services. For instance, awareness information may becombined with the increasingly available storage and computing power inmobile devices (e.g., wireless nodes 101 a-101 n) to create a localsemantic web, whereby local awareness information is created andsearched for automatically by wireless nodes 101 within the ad-hoc meshnetwork 109. As used herein, the term “semantic web” refers to a systemin which the information and messages shared with the system isunderstandable by the nodes 101 within the system. It is noted thatestablishing such a local semantic web using the system 100 overcomestwo major problems blocking the development of a global semantic web:(1) lack of mechanism for providing semantic content on a large scale,and (2) lack of semantically aware search engines to help users findinformation in a semantic web. The system 100 can also be used forcollaborative context calculation, generation of collaborativerecommendations based on user profile data of participating nodes 101,publishing pointers to information or content, searching for friendswithin a defined community, finding out what is going on and what kindof people are around a user, making the environment aware of the user,and other like applications.

To facilitate the creation of the semantic webs and/or for sharinginformation in general over the ad-hoc mesh network 109, the system 100introduces the capability to provide a publish/subscribe mechanismincluding a publish/subscribe interface to applications usingdistributed valuespaces, efficient query/response mechanisms, andbroadcast messages. More specifically, wireless nodes 101 a-101 n thatare participating in the publish/subscribe mechanism have their ownrespective valuespaces for storing locally published information itemsand subscribed information items received over the ad-hoc mesh network109. In one embodiment, there is no explicit synchronization betweendifferent wireless nodes 101 a-101 n, thereby advantageously avoidingthe need to implement potentially complex synchronization protocols overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109. As a result, the same application executingin different wireless nodes 101 a-101 n might have different sets ofinformation available to it (e.g., in wireless node 101 a, theapplication knows data items 1 and 2, but in wireless node 101 n, thesame application knows data items 2, 3, and 4.

In one embodiment, in lieu of a traditional synchronization process, thesystem 100 enables the applications executing in the wireless nodes 101a-101 n to define their own data schema within their respectivevaluespaces. In one embodiment, the data schema defines the type andformat of information that the associated application can send (e.g.,publish) and receive (e.g., subscribe) within the valuespace.

Moreover, it is contemplated that an application can define and usemultiple data schemas or have multiple instances of the one data schema.For example, to publish information, an application initiates,determines, and/or stores at least one data schema associated with theinformation along with the information in the valuespace of thecorresponding wireless node 101 a. Placing the data schema andinformation in the valuespace, makes the information available to othersubscribing wireless nodes 101 b-101 n. In one embodiment, anapplication executing on one or more of the subscribing nodes 101 b-101n can initiate a query based on any corresponding subscriptions. By wayof example, in one embodiment, a subscription from an application isimplicitly turned into a query message. The query is then periodicallyspread to other wireless nodes 101 a-101 n in the ad-hoc mesh network109 according to, for instance, the message transmission and relayprocesses described below.

Upon receiving the query message, a receiving wireless node 101 bperforms a search of the local valuespace for matching or substantiallymatching data schemas. If there are published information items based onthe same or similar schema, the results are returned as a responsemessage. Upon reception of response messages at the subscribing node 101a, the results are inserted into the local valuespace and thesubscribing applications are notified accordingly. In one embodiment,the subscribing applications can also define filters so that onlyselected information items are queried and received.

In some embodiments, by default, all messages are broadcasted so awireless node 101 a can receive responses to queries which it has notsent. Based on the knowledge that the wireless node 101 a receivesresponse messages even though it has not sent a query, the wireless node101 a can delay sending of its own queries (e.g., queries for the sameor similar information contained in the received response messages)because it already has up-to-date information. In this way, the processcan advantageously reduce potential traffic over the ad-hoc mesh network109.

In another embodiment, wireless nodes 101 a-101 n that receive one ormore of the responses messages may store the responses in theirrespective valuespaces even when the nodes 101 a-101 n have not sent acorresponding query. In this way, the wireless nodes 101 a-101 n canhave a store of information in the valuespace that may be responsive tofuture queries. In one embodiment, these responses messages may beremoved from the valuespace based on available memory in the valuespace,time, expiration period associated with respective messages, and thelike.

The following are exemplary use-case scenarios for applications canexchange information over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 using variousembodiments of the publish/subscribe mechanism described herein.

In one use-case, an application may subscribe to user profile datapublishing by neighboring wireless nodes 101 a-101 n. By way of example,the user profile data may include information such as usage history,user behavior, user preferences, and the like. The application can thenuse the published user profile data to generate recommendations (e.g.,recommendations for content, applications, services, items, etc.) basedon local preferences. In one embodiment, the published user profile datamay be limited to a community or group of wireless nodes 101 a-101 naccording to the community processes discussed below. In some cases, theuser profile data may be encrypted so that only group or communitymembers may access the information even if the information is receivedand relayed by non-community members.

In another use-case, the awareness information alerts a user to nearbypeople or places. For example, a user is visiting a new town when thewireless node 101 a alerts the user that “Salvatore, a friend of yourfriend David is nearby.” The user may then arrange to meet Salvatore toget a recommendation for sites to visit in the new town. In anotherexample, a user is looking for a good restaurant in an unfamiliarneighborhood. An application based on awareness information may presenta list of local restaurants ranked by the number of people currentlyeating in the restaurant that have the same food preferences as theuser. Such a list can be collected based on queries and replies thatcontain anonymous information of people's food preferences.

In another use-case, an application uses the awareness information todiscover events near the user. For example, as a user passes a park, thewireless node 101 a informs the user, based on messages exchangedbetween nearby devices, that “There is a Japanese culture festival inthe Tea Garden Park; five members of your Kabuki community are there:Zen, Mi, Xia, Talo, and Chris.” The user may then decide to attend thefestival.

In another use-case, an application provides location-based orcontext-based services using awareness information. For example, awireless node 101 a does not have positioning capabilities butnonetheless knows that it is in a grocery store based on anonymousawareness information from other nearby wireless nodes 101. It iscontemplated that the grocery store may also place a node 101 in thestore to provide such context information, possibly combined with otherstore specific information such as the address of the store's web page.The wireless node 101 a then reminds the user to “Remember to buydishwasher detergent” based on the user's location in a grocery store.The awareness information can also be the physical position informationfrom a neighboring wireless node 101 that has the positioningcapability. Sharing of positioning information with a neighboring nodewith such a capability can enable nodes 101 without such capability tooffer navigational services.

In another example, a group of people are attending a meeting. Themeeting invitation includes an identification code for that particularmeeting that is stored in the mobile nodes 101 of the meeting attendees(e.g., the identification code may be stored in the calendar data).Using the principles set forth in this invention, the nodes 101 canexchange the meeting identification code over the ad-hoc mesh network109 while attending the meeting. Comparing the exchanged identificationcode in a user's wireless device 101 can, for instance, establishwhether the users was indeed at the meeting corresponding to theidentification code. Such accurate social context knowledge can be used,for instance, to adapt the service or application behavior towards theuser.

In another use-case, an application provides for search of localinformation that changes rapidly and very specific to a localenvironment. The local information often does not reach traditionalInternet search engines. For example, a user bought tickets to aconcert, but discovers at the last minute that the user cannot attend.The user stores a string “Ticket to concert X at venue Y is available”into the awareness services module 111 of the user's wireless node 101.As a result, a nearby wireless node 101 a, within a few street blocksaway, that searches for tickets by sending query messages with a string“Ticket concert X” over the multi-hop ad-hoc mesh network 109, willreceive the user's ticket availability message as an automatic reply.

In another use-case, an application enables locally targetedadvertising. For example, it is almost closing time for a local freshfruit market. The merchants decide to publish an advertisement over thead-hoc mesh network 109 that “Apples are 50% off for the rest of theday.” The advertisement is available to users who live nearby themarket. In another example, a user browses an advertisement for a newprinter on a wireless node 101 a. In the browsing activity, a codeattached to the advertisement is stored in the awareness services module111. Upon searching and finding such a code, a nearby electronics storesends the user an offer to sell the printer with a 10% discount.

In another use-case, an application automatically creates an activitylog based on the awareness information associated with a user. Forexample, the application records the people the user meets along withother awareness information such as when, where, context, etc. The userthen meets a person while walking on the street. The person looksfamiliar but the user does not recall the person's name or how the userknows the person. The wireless node 101 a running the applicationreports that the person's name is David and that the user met him at asoccer match one year ago in London.

In another use—case, an application provides the capability to initiatelocal discussion threads and group chats over the ad-hoc mesh network109. For example, the supporters of a football team form a communityover the ad-hoc mesh network 109 wherein community members can sendshort text messages (e.g., of small enough size to be sent directly overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109) that can be received and read only by thefan club community members of that particular team.

FIG. 2A is a diagram of the components of a wireless node including anawareness services module, according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 2Ais described with respect to FIGS. 2B-2E which are diagrams of thecomponents of an awareness services module, according to variousexemplary embodiments. As shown in FIG. 2A, a wireless node 101 includesone or more components for sharing awareness information within thead-hoc mesh network 109. It is contemplated that the functions of thesecomponents may be combined in one or more components or performed byother components of equivalent functionality. In this embodiment, thewireless node 101 includes an application 201 that uses awarenessinformation to provide various services and functions including socialnetworking, location-based services, presence information, contextdetermination, advertising functions, etc. The application 201 mayinteract with the awareness services module 111 to obtain or shareawareness information. In one embodiment, the interaction is via variousembodiments of the publish/subscribe mechanism described herein.

By way of example, the awareness services module 111 includes threelayers: an awareness layer 203, a community layer 205, and a networklayer 207. The awareness layer 203 is the highest control layer forsharing awareness information. As shown in FIG. 2B, the awareness layer203 includes a control logic 221 and item storage 223. The control logic221, for instance, provides the logic for creating, publishing,subscribing to, querying, and/or receiving awareness information overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109. The control logic 221 can store theinformation that it either creates or receives in the item storage 223.In one embodiment, the item storage 223 represents, at least in part,the valuespace for storing published and subscribed information items.It is contemplated that the item storage 223 may be of sufficient sizeto store all or a portion of the information that flows through thewireless node 101 over a configurable period of time (e.g., days,months, or years).

In exemplary embodiments, the control logic 221 enables querying anddissemination of awareness information by initiating the flooding of thequery or information to neighboring wireless nodes 101 within the ad-hocmesh network 109. For example, upon receiving a query, the wirelessnodes 101 in the local neighborhood that have the queried informationmay decide to reply to the querying node automatically. By way ofexample, a reply message can be sent as a unicast message to thequerying node, or as a broadcast message to all nodes 101. Thus thereplying node can control how information is delivered among the nodes101 in the network 109. Also the replying node can estimate whether allthe possibly interested nodes 101 in the network 109 have had theopportunity to previously receive the reply and thus omit transmitting areply message accordingly. In exemplary embodiments, the replyinformation is also automatically stored in the item storage 223 of eachwireless node 101 through which the propagating reply passes. Moreover,the reply to a query may result in return of a pointer to specificcontent relevant to the query rather than the content itself undercertain circumstances (e.g., when the specific content is large insize). It is contemplated that the reply may contain direct content ifthe content is relatively small (e.g., a few tens of bytes ofinformation). By using a pointer, the system 100 minimizes the datatraffic that flows through the ad-hoc mesh network 109. The user maythen access the content via the pointer (e.g., a universal resourcelocator (URL) address, IP address) via a more appropriate communicationprotocol (e.g., IP) and/or means of communication (e.g. infrastructurenetworks). The receipt of the pointer (e.g., IP address) mayautomatically trigger the transfer of the content using, for instance,the communication protocol associated with the pointer. In the case ofbroadcasting or publishing information, any wireless node 101 throughwhich the published information propagates may store the information initem storage 223 or valuespace of the wireless node 101.

In other exemplary embodiments, awareness information can also bepublished directly by flooding an awareness message. Such a push modefor the dissemination of awareness information can be used to supportsome applications (e.g. advertising or group chatting) over the ad-hocmesh network 109.

It is recognized that privacy and anonymity may be of concern to usersof the system 100. Accordingly, the control logic 221 providesmechanisms for ensuring privacy and anonymity. For example, the controllogic 221 can prevent the transmission of intimate information when thenumber of neighboring wireless nodes is small to prevent the possibilityof inferring identity. As used herein, the term “intimate information”refers to information directly related to the user, e.g., the user'shabits, tastes, or preferences (musical preferences, favoriterestaurants, etc.). In one embodiment, the intimate information (e.g.,comprising user profile data) may be transmitted using encryption sothat only authorized nodes 101 a are able to access in the information.

The control logic 221, together in co-operation with the community layer205, may also periodically broadcast decoy queries and replies to maketracking an individual wireless node 101 more difficult. Since anoutside observer does not know the authentication key associated with acommunity, the observer cannot distinguish a valid message from afictitious one. Accordingly, by observing decoy messages, the observeris likely to detect presence of a private community when there is notone. Additionally, the control logic 221 enables to user to definefilters for incoming information (e.g., filter advertisements) and howthese filters would work (e.g., ignore the information completely, relaythe information but do not store, etc.). It is also contemplated thatthe user can direct the control logic 221 to interact with the communitylayer 205 to control the user's visibility on the ad-hoc mesh network109 (e.g., no visibility, visible only to a certain community or otheruser) to maintain privacy. As another mechanism for protecting privacy,the control logic 221 can interact with the community layer 205 toanonymize a specific message and corresponding identifiers as describedbelow with respect to the community layer 205.

Because one of the goals of the system 100 is to provide a mechanism foranonymous spreading of awareness information, it is recognized thatundesired or unsolicited messages (e.g., spam messages) may become aproblem. To address this problem, the control logic 221 may obtain, forinstance, information from the lower system layers of the awarenessservices module 111 about the traffic load and current average powerconsumption. If the traffic load is medium or high (meaning that alsopower consumption related to system 100 is medium or high) restrictionsmay be set for the frequency at which flooding messages are sent by thecontrol logic 221. It is also contemplated, that the neighboring peernodes 101 can be configured to not forward any flooding messagesoriginating from a node 101 neglecting such message restrictions.

The awareness layer 203, together with the community layer 205, providean application programming interface (API) 225 to enable an application201 to access the functions of the control logic 221 and the itemstorage 223. In exemplary embodiments, the API 225 enables applicationdevelopers to have uniform and easy access to functions related tosharing awareness information over the ad-hoc mesh network 109. It iscontemplated that the API 225 is extensible to accommodate anyapplication designed to access or use awareness information. Theapplications in the various nodes 101 do not have to be the same ormutually compatible. It is sufficient that the applications use the APIcorrectly to be able to publish and search awareness information in thesurrounding nodes 101 and the applications share the same or matchingdata schema.

The awareness layer 203 also has connectivity to the community layer205. The community layer 205 controls the formation and cataloging ofcommunities of wireless nodes 101 within the ad-hoc mesh network 109. Byway of example, a user may create any number of communities for sharingawareness information. It is contemplated that a community may be eithera peer community (e.g., any wireless node 101 may join), a personalcommunity (e.g., a wireless node 101 may join only if invited), or theopen local community that consists of all nodes in the localneighborhood. In one embodiment, one or more communities may be formedto for exchanging information using a publish/subscribe mechanism,wherein the publishers and subscribers are members of the community. Inexemplary embodiments, the messages that traverse between the wirelessnodes 101 within the ad-hoc mesh network 109 belong to one of thesethree community types. Communities can either be private (messages areencrypted) or public (no encryption used). In exemplary embodiments,membership and status in a community affect how the wireless node 101shares awareness information (see the discussion with respect to FIG. 2Gfor additional details of community membership). For example, a privatecommunity may be created for sharing published user profile data thatmay include personal data.

Furthermore, a community may be created for any purpose or duration(e.g., a permanent work community, a permanent community of friends, atemporary community of concert goers lasting only the duration of theconcert). As shown in FIG. 2C, the community layer 205 includes acommunity control module 241, a community directory 243, and anencryption/decryption module 245. The community control module 241provides the logic for creating, joining, managing (e.g., updatingmembership, configuring settings and preferences, setting privacypolicies), and deleting communities. The module 241 also provides partof the API 225.

In exemplary embodiments, the community control module 241 assigns aunique community identification number (CID) to each community for usewithin the ad-hoc mesh network 109. The control module 241 can alsogenerate authentication keys K associated with the CID to, for instance,authenticate users who wish to join the community or authenticatemessages directed to the community. For example, a wireless node 101 mayinvite another wireless node 101 to join a community by transferring theCID and authentication keys associated with the community to the otherwireless node 101. It is contemplated that the transfer of the CID andcorresponding authentication key may occur using short range radio orusing another secure mechanism (e.g., short message service (SMS) orelectronic mail). It is noted that both peer and personal communitiesuse a CID and corresponding K, whereas the open local community eithercan use a predetermined value for CID (e.g., zero) or does not use theCID at all.

To ensure privacy (as discussed above), the community control module 241interacts an encryption/decryption module 245 to anonymize the CID whenincluding the CID in messages over the ad hoc mesh network 109. Forexample, a wireless node 101 may direct a query to a specific communityusing an anonymized CID (e.g., a pseudonym) associated with thecommunity in lieu of the actual CID. In exemplary embodiments, multipleanonymized CIDs may be used to represent a single community. In thisway, it is more difficult to identify queries corresponding to aparticular community by monitoring traffic within the ad hoc meshnetwork 109. From the perspective of an outside observer, the anonymizedCIDs look random. In addition, the encryption/decryption module 245 mayencrypt or decrypt message data using, for instance, a temporary keythat is periodically derived from the authentication key K associatedwith the CID. These measures hinder the discovery of the CID byoutsiders that do not have the authentication key. By way of example,the community layer 205 inserts a special header into the messages thatit receives from the awareness layer 203. The special header, forinstance, contains a list of anonymized community identifierscorresponding to the communities to which the message is relevant.

FIG. 2D is a state diagram of the effect of community membership andstatus on sharing awareness information, according to an exemplaryembodiment. As shown in FIG. 2D, a wireless node 101 may be in eitherone or two states (e.g., a not-joined state 251 and a joined state 253)with respect to membership in a community within the ad-hoc mesh network109. The application 201 of wireless node 101 issues, for instance, acommand 255 to either join or leave a community to transition betweenthe not-joined state 251 and the joined state 253. When the wirelessnode 101 is in the not-joined state 251 with respect to a community, thewireless node 101 has no information (e.g., CID and associatedauthentication keys K) about the community and cannot access messagesdirected to the community. When the wireless node 101 is in the joinedstate 253, the community layer 205 receives the CID and possibly one ormore authentication keys associated with the community. In oneembodiment, authentication keys are provided when membership in thecommunity is by invitation or otherwise restricted (e.g., when thecommunity is a personal community or a private community). Accordingly,the community layer 205 will be able to encrypt outgoing communityspecific messages and to decrypt incoming community specific messages.As noted previously, community membership may also be based, at least inpart, on a publish or subscription status to information shared over thead-hoc mesh network 109.

When the wireless node 101 is in the joined state 253, the wireless node101 may also be in either an inactive state 257 or an active state 259.To transition between the inactive state 257 and the active state 259,the application 201 may issue a command 261 to either activate ordeactivate the joined state 253 via the application programminginterface 225. When the wireless node 101 is in the inactive state 257,the community layer 205 abandons the message even though it is a memberof the community. In certain embodiments, the wireless node 101 may alsobe invisible to other members of the community while in the inactivestate 257. For example, the wireless node 101 may enter the inactivestate 257 when it temporarily does not want to receive or shareinformation with the community. When the wireless node 101 is in theactive state 259, the community layer 205 encrypts and decryptscommunity messages as usual for private communities, and enables alloutgoing and incoming community specific messages for public communities(e.g., communities with no restrictions on membership).

Within the active state 259, the wireless node 101 may also be in eitheran invisible state 263 or a visible state 265. To transition between theinvisible state 263 and the visible state 265, the application 201issues a command 267 to set either the visible or invisible state. Whenin the invisible state 263, the community-specific identity (e.g., auser alias) associated with the wireless node 101 cannot be queried byother members of the community. For example, in the invisible state 263,the community layer 205 continues to receive and send community messageswithout its identity known to other community members. When in thevisible state 265, the identity of the wireless node 101 can be queriedby other members of the community.

In various embodiments, the community directory 243 of the communitylayer 205 maintains, for instance, information on the communities thatthe user has joined. Such information contains, at least, the communityidentification (CID). Additionally, it may contain public and/or privateauthentication keys (K) of the joined communities and a list ofanonymized community identifiers for each community. The communitycontrol module 241 may periodically recalculate the list of anonymizedCIDs. By way of example, the community layer 205 inserts a header intothe message it receives from the awareness layer 203. The headercontains, for instance, a list of anonymized community identifiersidentifying the communities to which the message is relevant.

It is contemplated that a special personal community can be reserved fortracking new bonds or relationships created between users. Consider, forexample, that user A meets user B for the first time and wants to createa radio bond between the mobile devices corresponding to each user. Inone embodiment, user A can initiate the creation this bond with user Bby transferring to user B (e.g., by using a secure transfer mechanism)the CID and the public K of user A's personal “new bonds” community.Similarly, user B may give user A similar credentials corresponding touser B's “new bonds” community. Once the credentials are exchanged andthe bond has been created, user A may find user B over the ad-hoc meshnetwork 109 by searching for members of user A's “new bonds” community.In other words, with a simple search of a single community, user A cansearch for all the people in user A's local neighborhood with whom userA has created a bond. This requires that a high number of community CIDsand Ks can be stored in the community directory 243. Also, an effectivelookup of the community directory must be provided. There are manyexisting and good solutions for such efficient lookup.

As the user creates new bonds, the number community CIDs and Ks storedin the user's community directory 243 can grow quite large. Accordingly,to enable effective search of a large number of communities, thecommunity layer 205 may generate a special community search message toinitiate the search. For example, the special community search messagecontains, at least in part, a list of anonymized community identifierscorresponding to the communities to be searched. To protect the privacy,the community layer 205 can generate a new set of anonymized communityidentifiers for each community search message. If the community layer205 finds a match to any of the anonymized community identifiers in anyof the neighboring nodes 101 that receives the search message, thecommunity layer 205 generates a reply message that may contain the aliasof the user in that community or other community specific information.The reply message may be encrypted with the encryption key of thecommunity. In one embodiment, the community search message may relate toqueries and responses transmitted over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 insupport of various embodiments of the publish/subscribe mechanismdescribed herein.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the community layer 205 has connectivity to theawareness layer 203 above and the network layer 207 below. The networklayer 207 manages the rebroadcasting of received flooding messages andthe routing of the unicast (typically reply) messages received by thewireless node 101. FIG. 2E depicts a diagram of the components of thenetwork layer 207, according to an exemplary embodiment. The networklayer 207 includes a network control module 271, routing table 273,neighbor table 275, message identification (MID) table 277, and messagetable 279. The network control module 271 directs the broadcasts ofmessages and information by managing and updating the routing table 273,neighbor table 275, MID table 277, and message table 279. In certainembodiments, the network control module 271 may also assist inprotecting the privacy and anonymity of users by periodically changingthe network layer identification associated with the wireless node 101.It is noted that making such a change in the network layeridentification between queries does not cause routing problems forreplies because the routing information is recreated by each query inthe ad-hoc mesh network 109.

In exemplary embodiments, the network layer 207 may insert a header intomessages it receives from the community layer 205 to, for instance,direct flooding and routing of the received messages. The structure ofthis network layer message header 281 is discussed with respect to FIG.2F. FIG. 2F is a diagram of the data structure of a network layermessage header, according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown, themessage header 281 contains the following fields: (1) a TX field 282 toidentify the transmitter node ID (NID) of the last transmitting node101; (2) a SRC field 283 to identify the source node ID of the node 101that originated the message; (3) a DST field 284 to identify thedestination source ID of the intended recipient of a unicast (reply)message (e.g., this field is give a value of zero when the message is aflooding messages); (4) a MSN field 285 to identify the message sequencenumber assigned by the source node; (5) a hop count field 286 that isincremented by one by each node 101 that transmits the message and (6) ahop limit field 290 that is decremented by one by each node 101 thattransmits the message If the hop limit field 290 drops to zero then thea node 101 does not retransmit the message. In certain embodiments, themessage header 281 may also contain the following optional fields: (7) ageographical limit field 287 to designate the extent of the physicalover which the message is intended to propagate (e.g., the geographicallimit field 287 may contain a geographical position of the source nodeand a maximum flooding radius from that position); (8) a temporal limitfield 288 (e.g., the temporal limit field 288 may contain the time whenthe message becomes obsolete and should be dropped); and (9) a contextlimit field 289 that defines the context beyond which the message is notintended to propagate (e.g. a message related to a particular concert isnot intended to extend beyond the concert venue).

Returning to FIG. 2E, the network layer 207 also contains a routingtable 273. In exemplary embodiments, the routing table 273 contains alisting of the node identification number (NID) of the originatingwireless node 101 (e.g., source NID) and the NIDs of the last knowntransmitters of the message. The purpose of the routing table is toenable the routing of the reply messages (e.g., unicast messages) backto the querying node that originated the query through a floodingmessage. As the message propagates through the ad-hoc mesh network 109,each subsequent wireless node 101 that receives the message adds the NIDof the last transmitter to the routing table to record the next hopneighbor towards the source node. The source node is marked as thedestination node (DST) in the routing table. The update of the routingtable 273 is coordinated by the network control module 271. As shown inTable 1, the routing table 273 lists the destination NID, thetransmitter NIDs associated with wireless nodes 101 that haverebroadcasted a message. The network control module 271 may also addadditional information to the routing table like the time when thedestination node was detected to be active, the number of hops to thedestination via a specific transmitter node. The network control module271 may use this information as additional parameters when it determinesthe best route to the destination node.

TABLE 1 Destination NID Transmitter NIDs DST₁ TX₁₁, TX₁₂, . . . ,TX_(1M) DST₂ TX₂₁, TX₂₂, . . . , TX_(2N) . . . . . . DST_(S) TX_(S1),TX_(S), . . . , TX_(ST)

The neighbor table 275 contains a list of the neighboring wireless nodes101 and an estimate of their relative radio distance (see Table 3). Itis contemplated that the observed signal strength together with theknown transmitting power of a neighboring wireless node 101 is anindicator of the proximity of the wireless node 101 and can be used tocalculate the relative radio distance. The relative radio distance ofthe node from which the message was last received is then used as acriterion for whether or not the wireless node 101 retransmits areceived message. For instance, a higher signal strength indicatescloser proximity to the wireless node 101. The network control module271 monitors the signal strengths of neighboring nodes 101 as the module271 receives messages from nearby devices and uses it to estimate therelative radio distance (e.g., proximity of the transmitting node 101).It is also contemplated that the network control module 271 may use anyother mechanism for estimating the relative radio distance ofneighboring nodes (e.g., estimating location using global positioningsatellite receivers or other positioning techniques).

In certain embodiments, the network control module 271 uses theproximity information to direct the routing and transmission of messagesover the ad-hoc mesh network 109. For example, the system 101 can reducethe potential for overloading the ad-hoc mesh network 109 byimplementing a smart flooding scheme whereby only a few nodes 101retransmit a flooding message. Whether a node 101 retransmits a floodingmessage can be dependent on the relative distance group (e.g., “verynear”, “near”, or “far”) to which the node 101 that is the transmitterof the message belongs. More specifically, if the transmitting node 101is in the “far” or “near” group, the receiving node 101 can retransmitthe flooding message. If the transmitting node 101 is in the “very near”group, the receiving node 101 does not retransmit the flooding message.For each broadcast message received from a node in either the “far” or“near” group, the network control module 271 assigns a random delay timefor relaying or rebroadcasting. The delay period, for instance, exhibitsa distribution function based on the estimated relative radio distanceas a way to randomize the delay period before transmission. Thedistribution should be chosen in such a way that the random delay islarger for those nodes that are “near” than for those that are “far.”This favors, for instance, nodes 101 that are further away to relay theflooding message forward, which results in better flooding efficiency(smaller total number of transmissions). The use of a random delay timealso prevents the unintended synchronization of message broadcasts asthe message propagates over the ad-hoc mesh network 109. For example,unintended synchronization of the message broadcasts may result in toomany nodes 101 sending broadcasting (i.e., flooding) messages over thead-hoc mesh network 109 at exactly the same time. Additionally, thedelay time provides an opportunity for the network control module 271 tomonitor and count rebroadcasts of the message by other neighboringwireless nodes 101.

TABLE 2 Transmitter NID Relative Radio Distance TX₁ D₁ TX₂ D₂ . . . . .. TX_(T) D_(T)

The MID table 277 contains a list of received messages. As the wirelessnode 101 receives messages from neighboring nodes over the ad hoc meshnetwork 109, the network control module 271 uses the MID table to checkwhether the message has been received previously by, for example,comparing the MIDs in the MID table 277 to that of the received message.The MID table 277 also contains a flag indicating whether a message hasbeen or is being transmitted by the node 101 and the time when the entrywas last updated. In exemplary embodiments, the MID is the tuple (SRC,MSN), where SRC is the NID of the source node and MSN is a messagesequence number assigned by the source node. In this way, the MID is aunique identifier of each message that propagates in the network 109.The network control module 271 makes an entry in the MID table 277 forall new messages that it receives. If the message has been scheduled fortransmission, the module 271 increments the message counter in themessage table (see Table 4).

TABLE 3 MID Sent flag Time of reception (SRC₁, MSN₁₁) “SENT” t₁₁ (SRC₁,MSN₁₂) “NOT SENT” t₁₂ (SRC₁, MSN₁₃) “SENDING” t₁₃ . . . . . . . . .(SRC₂, MSN₂₁) “NOT SENT” t₂₁

The message table 279 contains messages that the network control module271 has scheduled to transmit. For example, as the node 101 receives aflooding message that the network control module 271 schedules fortransmission, the module 271 updates the message table to include themessage in the message table 279. Each entry in the message table 279contains the message itself, the time when the message is scheduled tobe sent, and the number of receptions of the same message by the node101 (see Table 4). In exemplary embodiments, a message is not relayedover the ad-hoc mesh network 109 if the number of times the message hasbeen received exceeds a predefined limit. For example, a message has theinitial count of 0. In this example, as a wireless node 101 in theneighborhood is observed to transmit the message, the message countassociated with the message is increased. When the maximum message countis reached, the network control module 271 removes the message from themessage table 279. The transmitter of each message is also associatedwith an estimated relative radio distance (D) indicating whether thetransmitting node is within close proximity of the wireless node 101(e.g., transmitting node 101 is in the “very near” relative radiodistance group) or far from the wireless node 101 (e.g., transmittingnode 101 is in the “far” relative radio distance group). If the relativeradio distance associated with the transmitting node indicates that thetransmission of the message occurred “very near,” the wireless node 101would not have to relay the message because it is assumed, for instance,that most of the other neighboring wireless nodes 101 have alreadyreceived the same message. By taking into account the relative radiodistances of neighboring nodes, the described smart floodingfunctionality leads to, on average, each flooding message being receivedfor a few times by each node 101 independent of the node density. Thenumber of times a message is received by any one node 101 affects thescalability of the network 109.

If the received message, however, is a unicast reply message that wasaddressed to the receiving node 101, the network control module 271checks whether the destination node 101 can be found in the routingtable 273 (e.g., can be found from the destination field in the replymessage, or obtained from the source field of the query by the replyingnode). If found, the routing table entry will give the NID of theneighboring node to which the reply message will be sent in the nextopportunity. If the unicast transmission is not successful, the nextentry for the same DST will be used as the next try. If the receivedmessage is a unicast reply message that was not addressed to thereceiving node, and no acknowledgment from the intended receiver nodewas heard, the node will store the message in the message table 279 forscheduled retransmission. It is noted that unicast messages oracknowledgement messages that are not addressed to the node 101 arenormally received D2D radio layer 209 (see discussion of the D2D radiolayer 209 below) but not by the awareness services module 111. However,under certain circumstances, the D2D radio layer 209 can provide suchmessages to the awareness services module 111 to schedule forretransmission. For example, if no successful unicast or acknowledgementof the same message is observed by the time when the message isscheduled to be transmitted, the node 101 will transmit the unicastmessage to the intended recipient found from the routing table 273associated with the message. In this way, the nodes 101 that are not theintended recipients of the reply messages can assist in routing themessage forward towards the correct destination.

TABLE 4 Message Time to send Received msg count MSG₁ t₁ C₁ MSG₂ t₂ C₂ .. . . . . . . . MSG_(M) t_(M) C_(M)

As shown in FIG. 2A, the awareness services module 111 has connectivityto a device-to-device (D2D) radio layer 209. The D2D radio layer 209enables the formation of the ad-hoc mesh network 109 and sharing ofawareness information using, for instance, short range radiotechnologies such WLAN and Bluetooth®. It is contemplated that the D2Dradio layer 209 may use any wireless technology for communicationbetween devices over short ranges. The radio technology, for instance,enables each wireless node 101 within the ad-hoc mesh network 109 tobroadcast messages in a connectionless way to the neighboring nodes 101that are within radio range. As used herein, the term “connectionless”means the wireless nodes 101 need not use two-way signaling to establisha communication channel before broadcasting a message. In exemplaryembodiments, the D2D radio layer 209 may include multiple radios usingone or more different technologies or protocols (e.g., WLAN andBluetooth® simultaneously). A wireless node 101 configured with multipleradios may act as a gateway node to span two or more sub-networksserviced by the different wireless technologies. In this way, messagesbroadcast on one sub-network may be propagated to another sub-network.

FIG. 2G is a diagram depicting a power saving scheme of adevice-to-device radio layer, according to an exemplary embodiment. Thesmall amount of awareness data as well as the low latency requirementsof the system 100 enables the operation of the D2D radio layer 209 in away that leads to low power consumption. As shown in FIG. 2G, the D2Dradio layer 209 may have beaconing periods 291 a-291 c delineated bytarget beacon transmission times (TBTTs) 293 a-293 c. In exemplaryembodiments, the D2D radio layer 209 may operate in a time-synchronizedmanner and utilize only a fraction of the time for active communication(e.g., during awake periods 295 a-295 c). During the rest of eachbeaconing period 291, the D2D radio layer 209 is in, for instance, apower-saving or dozing mode (e.g., during doze periods 297 a-297 c). Forexample, each beaconing period 291 can be on the order of hundreds ofmilliseconds and each awake period 293 only a few milliseconds, leadingto effective radio utilization of approximately one percent. It iscontemplated that for situations, where the number of nodes 101 is verylarge (such as during mass events), time-wise radio utilization canincrease up to 100 percent momentarily (e.g., awake period 293 equalsactive transmission period 291). At times of low traffic (for example atnight), the radio utilization can be decreased to, for instance, 0.1percent, by utilizing every tenth awake period 293 while stillmaintaining synchronization.

In exemplary embodiments, the low latency requirements also enablesaving power in the host processor (e.g., as depicted in FIG. 16). Forillustration, the following description refers to the components ofexemplary chip set of FIG. 16. The D2D radio layer 209 is typicallyimplemented in the ASIC module 909, whereas the functionalities of theawareness services module 111 can be implemented either in the ASIC 909or the processor 903. If the functionalities of the awareness servicesmodule 111 are implemented in the processor 903, power consumption isreduced by, for instance, having ASIC 909 wake up the processor 903 asinfrequently as possible. By way of example, the periodic operation ofthe D2D radio layer 209 explained above enables the ASIC 909 to collectall messages and send them to the processor 903 at a frequency of onceper active transmission period 291. The processor 903 then processes allreceived messages and calculates new messages to be sent for the nextactive transmission period 291. The processor 903 then sends themessages to the ASIC 909 for transmission. Using this process, aflooding message can make one hop (e.g., travel from one node 101 toanother node 101) per period 291, which is fully acceptable forawareness information. In contrast, potential delays of hundreds ofmilliseconds are not possible, for example, for voice traffic, and thesekinds of power savings cannot therefore be achieved in othercommunication systems transporting delay-sensitive traffic.

FIGS. 3A-3D are flowcharts of processes for locating communities andcommunity members in the local neighborhood over an ad-hoc mesh network,according to various exemplary embodiments. FIG. 3A is a flowchart forlocating active communities over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 andupdating a list of the active communities that are visible to a wirelessnode 101. In one embodiment, the awareness services module 111 performsthe process 300 of FIG. 3A and is implemented in, for instance, a chipset including a processor and a memory as shown in FIG. 16. In step 301,the awareness services module 111 identifies one or more communities ofwireless nodes 101 by using, for instance, community identifiers (CIDs)corresponding to the one or more communities. In exemplary embodiments,each CID is associated with one or more authentication keys forauthenticating members and messages transmitted within the correspondingcommunity. The CIDs and associated keys are stored by the awarenessservices module 111 in, for instance, the community directory 243 andmay be provided to wireless nodes 101 that are members of the communityin advance using a secure communication channel over the ad-hoc meshnetwork 109 or the communication network 103. CIDs and keys that arecreated subsequently may also be provided using a secure communicationchannel over either the ad-hoc mesh network 109 or the communicationnetwork 103.

By way of example, the awareness services module 111 can use the CIDs tolocate and identify communities that are active (e.g., transmitting orreceiving community messages) among one or more neighboring wirelessnodes 101 by (1) passively monitoring messages directed towards one ormore communities over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 using the processdescribed with respect to FIG. 3B below, (2) actively searching for oneor more communities using a community search message as described withrespect to FIG. 3C below, and/or (3) actively searching for one or moremembers of the communities using a member search message as describedwith respect to FIG. 3D. The awareness services module 111 then updatesa list of active communities based on the identification (step 303). Forexample, the list of active communities includes those communities towhich the wireless node 101 belongs (e.g., communities that are privatesuch as a community of personal friends) and those communities that arepublic and open to all nodes 101 (e.g., a general community of allwireless nodes on the ad-hoc network 109 in which system wide messagesmay be exchanged).

In exemplary embodiments, the awareness services module 111 iscontinuously updating the list of active communities by, for instance,monitoring for messaging traffic over the ad-hoc mesh network 109related to one or more of the active communities (step 305). Morespecifically, the awareness services module 111 tracks whether there areany messages originating from or directed to one or more of the activecommunities over a predetermined period of time. In one embodiment, theperiod of time can be dependent on the on the density or stability ofneighboring wireless nodes 101. For example, if the composition of theneighboring wireless nodes 101 is changing rapidly, the time period canbe shorter. Similarly, if the composition of the neighboring wirelessnodes 101 is more stable, the time period can be longer. In either case,the awareness services module 111 observes whether there are anymessages related to one or more of the active communities (e.g., bychecking the header information of the messages for CIDs correspondingto any of the active communities) (step 307). If no messages areobserved over the predetermined period of time for a particularcommunity, the awareness services module 111 designates that communityas inactive and updates the list of active communities accordingly (step309). If a message related to a particular community is observed duringthe time period, the community is considered to be still active and theawareness services module 111 need not update the list of activecommunities. It is contemplated that the awareness services module cancontinuously or periodically perform the monitoring process to updatethe list of active communities.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart of a process for passively identifying an activecommunity by monitoring community messages, according to one embodiment.In one embodiment, the awareness services module 111 performs theprocess 320 of FIG. 3B and is implemented in, for instance, a chip setincluding a processor and a memory as shown in FIG. 16. In step 321, theawareness services module 111 receives a message directed to one or morecommunities from a neighboring wireless node 101 over the ad-hoc meshnetwork 109. The awareness services module 111 then determines whetherthe receiving wireless node 101 is a member of the community to whichthe message is directed (step 323). For example, the determination mayinvolve checking whether the CID contained in, for instance, the messageheader of the received message matches a CID contained in the communitydirectory 243 of the receiving wireless node 101. In certainembodiments, the CID is anonymized to protect the privacy of thecommunity and its members. In this case, the receiving wireless node 101is a member of the community, the awareness services module 111 maydecode the anonymized CID using the authentication key associated withthe CID of the community specified in the received message. Further, ifthe message is encrypted, the awareness services module 111 may open theencryption using the encryption key associated with the CID as listed inthe community directory 243. If the awareness services module 111determines that the receiving node 111 is a member of the community(step 325), the module 111 identifies the community as an activecommunity and updates the list of active communities accordingly (step327).

FIG. 3C is a flowchart of a process for actively searching for one ormore active communities using a community search message, according toan exemplary embodiment. In one embodiment, the awareness servicesmodule 111 performs the process 340 of FIG. 3C and is implemented in,for instance, a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown inFIG. 16. In step 341, the awareness services module 111 receives inputrequesting a search for one or more active communities in the localneighborhood of the ad-hoc mesh network 109. The input is received from,for instance, the application 201 through the application programminginterface 225 (as described with respect to FIGS. 2A and 2C). Forexample, the input may specify one or more communities for which tosearch. In response, the awareness services module 111 retrieves a CIDfor each requested community (step 343). In certain embodiments, theCIDs are anonymized to protect the privacy of the community and itsmembers (step 345). Using anonymized CIDs protects privacy by making itmore difficult for an outsider to track communications related to anyparticular community. The community control module 241 then generates acommunity search message containing a containing a unique communityquery identifier CQID and a list of anonymized CIDs (step 347).

After creating the message, the awareness services module 111 initiatesbroadcast of the message over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step 349). Inexemplary embodiments, the community search message is equivalent to aquery and is transmitted and replied to using the processes describedwith respect to FIGS. 5A and 5B below. As the message propagates overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109, mobile devices that are members of one ormore of the active communities associated with the anonymized CID orCIDs included in the message automatically respond to mobile device thatoriginally sent the message. The awareness services module 111 initiatesreceipt of the reply messages (step 351). The reply message contains,for instance, a list of anonymized CIDs of those searched communitieswhich have an “active” status in the replying node 101. Based on thislist, the awareness services module 111 identifies each community in thelist as an active community and updates the list of active communitiesin, for instance, the community directory 243 (step 353).

FIG. 3D is a flowchart of a process for actively determining thepresence and community-specific identity (e.g., alias) of members of aparticular community or communities, according to an exemplaryembodiment. In one embodiment, the awareness services module 111performs the process 360 of FIG. 3D and is implemented in, for instance,a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown in FIG. 16. Instep 361, the awareness services module 111 receives input requesting asearch for one or more members of a community. The input is receivedfrom, for instance, the application 201 through the applicationprogramming interface 225 (as described with respect to FIGS. 2A and2C). For example, the input may specify one or more communities whosemembers are to be searched for. In step 363, the awareness servicesmodule 111 retrieves the CID or CIDs associated with the requestedcommunity or communities from the community directory 243. In certainembodiments, the CIDs are anonymized to protect the privacy of thecommunity and its members (step 365). If any one of the communities isset in the “visible” state, the awareness services module 111 alsoretrieves the community-specific user identity (e.g., an alias) of theuser for that community. By way of example, the encryption/decryptionmodule 245 of the awareness services module 111 may also encrypt theuser alias in step 365 using, for instance, one or more of the keysassociated with each community in the community directory 243. Thecommunity control module 241 then generates a member search messagecontaining a unique community query identifier CQID, a list ofanonymized CIDs, and corresponding plaintext (in case of a publiccommunity) or encrypted (in case of a private community) aliases of themembers for which to search (step 367).

After the member search message is generated, the awareness servicesmodule 111 initiates broadcast of the member search message over thead-hoc mesh network 109 (step 369). In exemplary embodiments, the membersearch message is equivalent to a query and is transmitted and repliedto using the processes described with respect to FIGS. 5A and 5B below.As the message propagates over the ad-hoc mesh network 109, mobiledevices that have one or more communities associated with the anonymizedCID or CIDs in the “visible” state automatically respond to the mobiledevice that originally sent the message. If aliases corresponding to oneor more users are also included in member search message, mobile devicescorresponding to the user aliases also respond. The awareness servicesmodule 111 initiates receipt of the reply messages sent in response tothe member search message (step 371). The reply message includes, forinstance, a list of anonymized CIDs, plaintext or encrypted user aliasesand, possibly, the plaintext or encrypted status (e.g. activity state,mode, etc.) of the community member. In certain embodiments, theawareness services module 111 uses the reply messages to update the listof visible community members in the local neighborhood (step 373). Inaddition, the awareness services module 111 also uses the replies toidentify active communities within the neighborhood and to update thelist of active communities (step 375). The updates are based, forinstance, on the anonymized CIDs, the community-specific member identity(e.g., alias), or other member-specific information included in thereply messages.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process for setting a state of a community tochange the visibility of community or community member, according to anexemplary embodiment. In one embodiment, the awareness services module111 performs the process 400 and is implemented in, for instance, a chipset including a processor and a memory as shown in FIG. 16. In step 401,the awareness services module 111 enables the user to set a statecorresponding to a community that determines the visibility of thecommunity or a member of the community. The different states of thecommunity and how the state affects the visibility of status of thecommunity are discussed with respect to FIG. 2D. For example, in variousembodiments, when a community is active, it is capable of sending andreceiving community specific messages. Similarly, when a communitymember is visible, the user alias associated with the community membercan be queried and sent to other community members.

Moreover, it is contemplated that the state of a community in a wirelessnode 101 can be used to filter incoming messages. For example, to blockall incoming or outgoing messages, a user can set the state of acommunity to inactive so that all messages from that particularcommunity are disregarded. It is contemplated that a user belonging tomultiple communities may independently set the visibility state for eachcommunity. By way of example, to block incoming advertisements, the usercan set the state to inactive for the community sending theadvertisements. It is also contemplated that the user can automaticallyset the visibility state based on criteria such as time (e.g., toautomatically set a visibility state at certain periods of the day),location (e.g., to automatically set a visibility state at certainlocations such as work or school), or any other context (e.g., while ina meeting or at dinner). FIG. 5A is a ladder diagram that illustrates asequence of messages and processes used in a querying node, according toan exemplary embodiment. A network process is represented by a thinvertical line. A step or message passed from one process to another isrepresented by horizontal arrows. A dashed horizontal arrow representsan optional step or message. The processes represented in FIG. 5A arethe querying node 502, relaying node 506, and replying node 508. Withinquerying node 502, the following additional processes are represented:application 201, awareness layer 203, community layer 205, network layer207, and D2D radio layer 209.

In step 501, the application 201 within querying node 502 generates arequest for searching community information (e.g., wireless nodes 101having active communities or communities with visible members) over thead-hoc mesh network 109 and sends the request to the community layer 205of the querying node 502. The community layer 205 generates a communityquery message, assigns a community query identification number (CQID) tothe query message and prepares the query message for transmission overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109 by marking the query with CIDs of thecommunities from which the user is seeking information. If the userseeks information on members of the communities and the communities areprivate, the community layer 205 encrypts the community-specific useridentity (e.g., alias) using the encryption keys associated with therespective CID and stored in the community directory 243 (FIG. 2C). Ifthe community directory 243 contains recent information about activecommunities in other nodes then the community layer 205 may return thecommunity information (step 503). The community layer 205 then sends theanonymized and partly encrypted message to the network layer 207 (step505).

The network layer 207 assigns a message sequence number (MID) to thequery message and adds fields to the network layer message header 281(FIG. 2F) to indicate that the querying node 502 is the source andtransmitter of the query message (e.g., using the NID). The networklayer 207 sends the query message to the D2D radio layer 209 of thequerying node 502 for broadcasting in the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step507).

The query message is then broadcasted to one or more relaying nodes 506(step 509). All the nodes that are able to receive the broadcast messageare relaying nodes. After processing by the relaying node 506, the querymessage is rebroadcasted to another relaying node or to the replyingnode 508 (step 511). The processes of the replying node 508 aredescribed with respect to FIG. 5C. After processing of the query messageby the replying node 508, a reply message is generated and sent to therelaying node 506 (step 513) which routes the reply message either toanother relaying node or to the querying node 502 (step 515) based onthe route stored in the routing table 273.

At the querying node 502, the D2D radio layer 209 receives andacknowledges the reply message and forwards the reply message to thenetwork layer 207 (step 517). The network layer 207 determines that thequerying node 502 is the intended destination of the reply message bychecking the DST field 294 in the network layer message header 281 andsends the message to the community layer 205 for processing (step 519).In case of a private community, the community layer 205 decrypts thereply message using the appropriate encryption keys stored in thecommunity directory 243. Based on the information in the reply message,the community layer 205 updates information in the community directory243 (list of active communities and the lists of visible members in thecommunities) and finally sends a service response to the query to theapplication 201 (step 521).

FIG. 5B is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses used in a replying node, according to an exemplary embodiment.A network process is represented by a thin vertical line. A step ormessage passed from one process to another is represented by horizontalarrows. A dashed horizontal arrow represents an optional step ormessage. The processes represented in FIG. 5B are the replying node 508and the querying node 502. Within replying node 508, the followingadditional processes are represented: application 201, awareness layer203, community layer 205, network layer 207, and D2D radio layer 209.

In step 561, the D2D radio layer 209 of the replying node 508 receivesthe query message and forwards it to the network layer 207 of thereplying node 508. The network layer 207 may decide to rebroadcast thequery message (step 563). On receipt, the network layer 207 forwards thequery message to the community layer 205 (step 565).

If the community layer 205 determines that the query message containsone or more anonymized CIDs of the active communities associated withthe replying node 508 and the query message contains encrypted useraliases, the community layer 205 decrypts the message and updatesinformation in its community directory 243 (e.g., containing the list ofactive communities and the list of visible members of the communities).Next, the community layer 205 generates a reply message that containsthe same CQID as the incoming query and has the source NID of the querymessage set as the destination NID of the reply message. If the queryrequests visible user aliases and the user alias in the node 508 is setas visible then the community layer 205 encrypts the user alias with theencryption keys associated with the community. The community layer 205then retrieves a new anonymized CID from the community directory 243 andsends the reply message to the network layer 207 (step 567).

On receipt of the reply message, the network layer 207 assigns a newmessage sequence number (MSN) to the reply message, attaches the NID ofthe replying node 508 as the source and transmitter, finds the NID ofthe relaying node 506 for the next hop from the routing table 263, setsthe receive NID of the reply message as the next hop and sends the replymessage to the D2D radio layer 209 (step 569). The D2D radio layer 209sends the reply message as a unicast message addressed to a relayingnode 506 over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step 571).

FIGS. 6A-6B are diagrams of a user interface utilized in the process oflocating communities over an ad-hoc mesh network, according to variousexemplary embodiments. FIG. 6A depicts a user interface 600 listingcommunity related information and commands for managing and accessingawareness information. For example, section 601 lists community memberswho are nearby the wireless node 101. The members may be from one ormore different communities. Selecting a member enables a user to contactthe member, view the status of the member, or access other applicationsor functions related to the user. Section 603 may display, for instance,status commands or prompts such as an invitation to join a particularcommunity. User interface 600 also provides selectable menu options 605to initiate additional commands. For example, selecting the option“Around Me” prompts the display of a map 607 with the locations ofcommunity members.

FIG. 6B depicts a user interface 620 for managing communities. Forinstance, section 621 displays currently defined communities with anoption 623 to activate or deactivate each community individually. Usersmay also designate each community as either public or private using thecontrol 625. Members of each community are displayed in section 627,along with controls 629 for adding or removing members.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process for determining a data schema forpublishing or subscribing to information over an ad-hoc mesh network,according to an exemplary embodiment. In one embodiment, the awarenessservices module 111 performs the process 700 and is implemented in, forinstance, a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown in FIG.16. In step 701, the awareness services module 111 receives a request toeither publish or subscribe to information provided over an ad-hoc meshnetwork. In one embodiment, the request is received from, for instance,one or more applications (e.g., application 201) executing on a wirelessnode 101 a.

Next, the awareness services module 111 determines at least one dataschema or an instance of the at least one data schema associated withthe information (step 703). As previously discussed, the data schemadefines, for instance, the type and format of information that is to besent or received by the requesting applications. By way of example, thedata schema may include field definitions, data types, data structures,and the like associated with the information. In addition oralternatively, the data schema may specify metadata for describing thetypes or formats of information requested by the application. In oneembodiment, the data schema is defined by the one or more applicationsmaking the request. It is contemplated that, in one embodiment, theapplications may define more than one data schema or define multipleinstances of the same schema in connection with publishing and/orsubscribing to information.

In yet another embodiment, the subscription may also be associated withone or more filters. By way of example, when an application initiates asubscription for information, the application may provide subscriptionfilters in addition to the data schema. Subscription filters specifyfurther limitations to the subscription including, for instance: (1)values or value sets for files so that responses should contain thespecified value constraints; (2) time constraints, e.g., time intervalswhen new information is provided to subscribing applications; (3)environmental constraints, e.g., information is made available toapplications when neighboring nodes 101 and/or other characteristics ofthe ad-hoc mesh network 109 have changed above a given threshold.

After determining the at least one data schema, the awareness servicemodule 111 initiates at least one instance of the data schema. Forexample, initiation of the data schema may include determining to storethe data schema in the valuespace of at least one corresponding wirelessnode 101 of the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step 705). In one embodiment,identification of the information for publication or subscription isbased, at least in part, on the at least one data schema. In otherwords, the data schema serves as criteria for associating publishedinformation against subscriptions for the information. The awarenessservices module 111 then causes, at least in part, the valuespace to bemade available for publication, subscription, querying, or a combinationthereof by one or more other nodes 101 of the ad-hoc mesh network 109.

For example, to publish information, the awareness services module 111initiates at least one instance of the data schema by, for instance,storing the data schema and corresponding information item(s) in thevaluespace of the publishing wireless node 101 a. Then, on thesubscription side, the awareness services module 111 of a subscribingwireless node 101 b generates a subscription query including, at leastin part, a target data schema that defines the information that subjectto the description. In one embodiment, the same applications need not beused to define the published data schema and the target or subscribeddata schema. In other words, a different application may be used tosubscribe to information published by another application.

In some embodiments, the awareness services module 111 can generate ahash value by applying, for instance, a hash function to the data schemato reduce the amount of data that is to be included in the query orresponse messages transmitted over the ad-hoc mesh network 109. It isalso contemplated that any other form of compression may be used toreduce the memory size of the data schema message for transmission. Thenthe receiving wireless node 101 can apply the same hash function orcompression scheme to extract the data schema specified in either thequery or response message. The process for subscribing to informationover an ad-hoc mesh network is described in more detail with respect toFIG. 8 below.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process for subscribing to information overan ad-hoc mesh network, according to one embodiment. In one embodiment,the awareness services module 111 performs the process 800 and isimplemented in, for instance, a chip set including a processor and amemory as shown in FIG. 16. In step 801, the awareness services module111 of a subscribing wireless node 101 a initiates a subscription queryby, for instance, initializing an instance of a data schema describingthe subscribed information. At the same time, the subscribing wirelessnode 101 a generates and transmits a subscription query messageincluding, at least in part, the data schema (or a hash of the dataschema) and broadcasts the query over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 using,for instance, the messaging process described above. In one embodiment,the query message may also include one or more filters and/or filteridentifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more filters specified bythe subscribing wireless node 101 a. In one embodiment, a filter ID maybe a hash value calculated from the filter. In this way, the filteritself need not be included. By way of example, the filters may specifyone or more criteria for selecting from among information items thatmatch or substantially match the data schema specified in the query. Inone embodiment, on transmission of the query, the awareness servicesmodule 111 also starts a query timer to determine when it should nextresend the query message to, for instance, obtain information from newnodes 101 that might have join the ad-hoc mesh network 109.

If another wireless node 101 b receives the query message (step 803),the awareness services module 111 of the receiving wireless node 101 bdetermines whether there are any information or data items it itsvaluespace that at least substantially matches the requested dataschema. If there are matching information, the awareness service module111 filters the matching data items from the valuespace and generates aresponse message based, at least in part, on the matching items (step805). It is noted that, in one embodiment, the awareness services module111 need not match all data types or formats specified in the dataschema of the query message. Instead, the awareness services module 111might match just one or more of the elements of the data schema (e.g.,compare only the name filed of a contact data structure, while ignoringmatches for the address fields) to find responsive data or informationitems. The receiving wireless node 101 b then broadcasts the responsemessage over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step 807). If filtering wasperformed to generate the response, the response message may alsoinclude the corresponding filter and/or filter ID.

If the response message is received by the subscribing wireless node 101a (step 809), the awareness services module 111 determines whether theresponse message is a duplicate of one or more messages that havealready been received (step 811). If it is not a duplicate message, theawareness service module 111 determines whether the response messageincludes the same filter ID specified by the subscribing application(step 813). If no filter ID is specified or the filter ID does notmatch, the awareness services module 111 determines to filter theinformation or data items from the response message (step 815), and thenstores the data items in the valuespace of the subscribing wireless node111 (step 817). If the filter ID matches or substantially matches, theawareness services module 111 stores the information or data items inthe response message (or indicated by the response message) in thevaluespace without further filtering. On storing the data items, theawareness services module 111 notifies the subscribing application orapplications that the subscribed information is available in thevaluespace (819) and resets the query timer to determine when next toquery for newly available published information (step 821).

If, at step 811, the awareness services module 111 determines that theresponse message is a duplicate message (e.g., the same message has beenrelayed or received from another wireless node 101), then the awarenessservices module 111 disregards the message and resets and then restartsthe query timer (steps 823 and 825).

At step 827, the awareness services module 111 determines whether toresend the query based on the query time. If it is time to resend thesubscription query to search for newly available published information,the awareness services module can then determine whether to combine thequery message with other query messages originating from, for instance,other subscription instances or data schemas (step 829). The query alongwith any specified filter to select from among responsive data items isthen sent or broadcast over the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step 831). Atthe same time the query timer is restarted to continue the subscriptionquery process (step 833). In one embodiment, the querying process iscontinued until a stop request is received (step 835). In otherembodiments, the subscription may be associated with a specific durationor effective period. In this case, the subscription querying processcontinues for the specified duration or until the subscription expires.

FIG. 9 is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses for delaying subscription queries for information publishedover an ad-hoc mesh network, according to one embodiment. A networkprocess is represented by a thin vertical line. A step or message passedfrom one process to another is represented by horizontal arrows. Adashed horizontal arrow represents an optional step or message. Theprocesses represented in FIG. 9 are nodes 901-905 which are engaged in apublish/subscribe process over an ad-hoc network 109.

As previously described, the wireless nodes (e.g., nodes 901-905)engaged in a publish/subscribe process can optimize the signaling of itsmessages to reduce message traffic over the ad-hoc mesh network 109. Oneprocess, as described with respect to FIG. 9, includes delaying queriesfor subscribed or published information. In step 907, the node 901initiates a data schema instance to publishing and/or subscribe to dataitems. Under the data schema instance, the node 901 publishes a dataitem associated with the data schema into its valuespace (step 909).Shortly thereafter, the node 903 initiates its instance of the same orsimilar data schema (step 911) and also publishes a data item to itsvaluespace.

At step 915, node 901 initiates a query for published informationresponsive to its data schema instance. In one embodiment, the queryacts as a way to convey the subscription to other nodes (e.g., nodes 901and 905). It is contemplated that more than one query can carry thesubscription and that a single query can carry multiple subscriptions.Furthermore, a query message may include multiple nested data itemsinclude subscription information, one or more queries, one or more queryresponses, other data items (e.g., including unrelated data items),and/or other messages or signaling information transmitted over thead-hoc mesh network 109. In this case, the query is transmitted to boththe node 903 and node 905 over the ad-hoc mesh network 109. At step 917,node 905 receives the query but ignores the message because thespecified data schema is unknown to it because it has not yet initiateda similar data schema instance. At step 919, the node 903 receives thesame query and determines that it's publish item is responsive andtransmits a response message received by both the node 901 and node 905.The node 901 receives the response and restarts its query time becauseit has received responsive information (step 921). The node 905 againignores the message because it has not initiated an instance of amatching or substantially matching data schema (step 923).

At step 925, the node 903 generates and transmits a query under its dataschema instance. The node 901 has responsive information and transmits aresponse message (step 927). The node 905 again ignores the messagebecause it does not have an instance of a responsive data schema (step929). Meanwhile, the response 927 from the node 901 is received at thenode 903, which also causes the node 903 to restart its query timerbecause it has received responsive information based on its query 925.The response 927 also reaches the node 905, but is again ignored becausethe node 905 does not have an instance of a responsive data schema (step933).

Next, the node 905 initiates data schema instance to subscribe toinformation related to the data schemas already initiated by nodes 901and 903 (step 935). The node 905 generates and transmits a query messageand starts its query time (step 937). The query 937 from the node 905 isreceived at both the nodes 901 and 903. Node 901 generates and transmitsa response (step 939). At 941, the response 939 is received at node 903.Even though the response was broadcast in response to the query 937 ofthe node 905, the response 939 nonetheless matches or substantiallymatches the subscription created the node 903 that is carried in thequery 925 that is scheduled for retransmission at step 953. Accordingly,the node 903 restarts its query timer (also at step 941), whicheffectively delays the schedule retransmission 953 to a laterretransmission at 955. In this way, the number of messages isadvantageously reduced by delaying querying for additional informationwhen the node 903 already has the latest information based on the query937 of the node 905.

At step 947, the node 901 delays its scheduled second query becausebased on the response 945 by the node 903 to the query 937 is responsiveto the subscription initiated by the node 901. In this example, theresponse 945 is also responsive to the query 937 of the node 905.Accordingly, the nodes 901 and 905 both restart their respective querytimers (respectively at steps 949 and 951). The restarting of the timeralso effectively delays the original resending of the node 905's query(step 957).

As a result, the next query is effectively at step 959 by the node 903based on, for instance, the ongoing query timers. The process thencontinues as previously described beginning with a response 961 from thenode 901 with is then received at the nodes 903 and 905. On receipt ofthe response, the query timer's at the nodes 903 and 905 are restarted(respectively at steps 963 and 965). In this way, the different querytimers of the nodes 901-905 effectively and advantageously timed toreduce overall messaging traffic arising from the various embodiments ofthe publish/subscribe mechanism described herein.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process for generating recommendationinformation based on user profile data published over an ad-hoc meshnetwork, according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, the awarenessservices module 111 performs the process 1000 and is implemented in, forinstance, a chip set including a processor and a memory as shown in FIG.16. More specifically, the process 1000 describes using variousembodiments of the publish/subscribe mechanism described herein withrespect to providing a recommendation system based, at least in part, onuser profile data published locally over an ad-hoc mesh network 109. Inone embodiment, the user profile data harvested or collected fromparticipating users (e.g., via their respective wireless nodes 101 a-101n) is shared locally (e.g., via the publish/subscribe mechanism) overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109. In one embodiment, a recommendationalgorithm is executed locally in each participating node 101. It isnoted that, in some embodiments, privacy is a concern and participationcan be limited to users who consent to publication their user profiledata. In one embodiment, data privacy is ensured by encryption ofpublished user profile data sot that only the community of participatingnodes 101 a-110 n are able to decrypt it.

At step 1001, the awareness services module 111 of participatingwireless nodes 101 a-101 n, collect and publish user profile data overthe ad-hoc mesh network 109 using, for instance, the publishingprocesses described previously. By way of example, the user profile datainclude, at least in part, statistics or other information regardingapplication usage, music/media player history, and like. Thesestatistics are used to generated user profile data that are publishedover the ad-hoc mesh network 109. In some embodiments, the user profiledata is anonymized to protect the identities of participating users andtheir respective nodes 101 a-101 n.

Following publication of the data, the awareness services modules 111 ofthe subscribing nodes 101 a-101 n may subscribe to the published userprofile data from participating nodes 101 a-101 n (step 1003). As notedpreviously, in some embodiments, subscribing nodes 101 a-101 n alsopublish or other make their user profile data available to otherparticipating nodes 101 a-101 n. Based on the subscriptions, theawareness services modules 111 of the subscribing nodes 101 a-101 nreceive response messages from the local ad-hoc mesh network 109containing the user profile data (step 1005).

The awareness services module 111 and/or a local recommendation enginemay then generate recommendation information based on the published userprofile data. The recommendation engine may, for instance, generaterecommendations based, for instance, on most frequently used or accessedcontent, items, functions, applications, services, etc. In addition, theuser profile data may include ratings information for generatingrecommendations. It is contemplated that the awareness services module111 and/or the recommendation engine may use any algorithm to generaterecommendation information for the published user profile data. Therecommendation information may then be used to present one or morerecommendations in user interface associated with an application and orprocess executing on the wireless node 101 (e.g., display suggestions inan application grid (see, e.g., the example of FIG. 14), music playercollection, bookmarks, etc.).

FIG. 11 is diagram illustrating the process for publishing andsubscribing to user profile data over an ad-hoc mesh network, accordingto one embodiment. As shown, FIG. 11 depicts wireless nodes 1101-1107operating within a local ad-hoc mesh network 109 (e.g., a local“cloud”). Each of the wireless nodes 1101-1107 have consented to sharinguser profile data with other nodes of the local ad-hoc mesh network 109.In this example, the wireless node 1107 has subscribed to the publisheduser profile data from wireless nodes 1101-1105 and pulls the userprofile data from the other nodes 1101-1105 to generate a recommendationresult 1109.

FIG. 12 is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses for publishing user profile data, according to one embodiment.A network process is represented by a thin vertical line. A step ormessage passed from one process to another is represented by horizontalarrows. A dashed horizontal arrow represents an optional step ormessage. The processes represented in FIG. 12 are a user 1201, anapplication launcher 1203 executing on a wireless node 101, a statisticsagent 1205 for gather user profile data, and a publish 1207 forpublishing the user profile data.

The example of FIG. 12 is described with respect to gather applicationusage as the user profile data. In step 1207, the user taps or otherwiseselects one or more applications presented by the launcher 1203. Thelauncher 1203 informs the statistics agent 1205 of the applicationlaunch or selection (step 1211). In response, the statistics agent 1205increases the launch count of the selected or launch applications (step1213). In one embodiment, the statistics agent also orders or sorts theapplications by launch count (step 1215) and publishes the sorted listor a portion of the list (e.g., the top five applications) for accessover the ad-hoc mesh network 109 (step 1217). In this example, the listof top five applications comprises the published user profile data thatcan support, for instance, generating application recommendations.

FIG. 13 is a ladder diagram that illustrates a sequence of messages andprocesses for generating recommendation information based on publisheduser profile data, according to one embodiment. A step or message passedfrom one process to another is represented by horizontal arrows. Adashed horizontal arrow represents an optional step or message. Theprocesses represented in FIG. 12 are a subscriber 1301 for subscribingto user profile data over an ad-hoc mesh network 109, a recommendationengine 1303 for generating recommendations, and a application grid userinterface (UI) 1305 for presenting the recommendations.

At step 1307, the subscriber 1301 subscribes to published user profileddata (e.g., the application lists generated the process of FIG. 12).Based on the subscription, the subscriber 1301 receives application listupdates (e.g., periodically, at predetermined intervals, on detection ofa change, etc.) from the corresponding publishing nodes 101 a-101 n. Thesubscriber then updates the application lists and forwards the lists tothe recommendation engine 1303 for processing (step 1311). In oneembodiment, the recommendation engine can also provide a list of knownapplications (e.g., applications of interest or application available tothe node 101) for comparison against the published application lists.

The recommendation engine evaluates to the user profile data (e.g.,applications lists) to determine or aggregate the application count ofreach respective engine (step 1315). Based on the application counts,the recommendation engine generates recommendation information based onthe top five aggregated applications that are not already installed onthe node 101, and adds the icons corresponding to the applications theapplication grid UI 1305 (step 1317).

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a user interface for presenting recommendationinformation generated based on published user profile data, according toone embodiment. As shown, the application grid UI 1401 displaysrecommendation information generated according to the processesdescribed with respect to FIGS. 11-13. More specifically, the UE 1401displays icons representing already installed applications (e.g., App1-App 9) along with recommended applications 1403 (e.g., App 10-App 12).The UE 1401 presents icons for the recommended with a dotted line toindicate that they are recommended applications that have yet to beinstalled. In addition, the UE 1401 can designate the icons with a cloud1405 or other marker to indicate that the recommendation came fromanalysis of user profile data collected from the local cloud (e.g., thelocal ad-hoc mesh network 109).

The processes described herein for providing a publish/subscribemechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network may be advantageously implementedvia software, hardware, firmware or a combination of software and/orfirmware and/or hardware. For example, the processes described herein,may be advantageously implemented via processor(s), Digital SignalProcessing (DSP) chip, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc. Such exemplaryhardware for performing the described functions is detailed below.

FIG. 15 illustrates a computer system 1500 upon which an embodiment ofthe invention may be implemented. Although computer system 1500 isdepicted with respect to a particular device or equipment, it iscontemplated that other devices or equipment (e.g., network elements,servers, etc.) within FIG. 15 can deploy the illustrated hardware andcomponents of system 1500. Computer system 1500 is programmed (e.g., viacomputer program code or instructions) to provide a publish/subscribemechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network as described herein and includes acommunication mechanism such as a bus 1510 for passing informationbetween other internal and external components of the computer system1500. Information (also called data) is represented as a physicalexpression of a measurable phenomenon, typically electric voltages, butincluding, in other embodiments, such phenomena as magnetic,electromagnetic, pressure, chemical, biological, molecular, atomic,sub-atomic and quantum interactions. For example, north and southmagnetic fields, or a zero and non-zero electric voltage, represent twostates (0, 1) of a binary digit (bit). Other phenomena can representdigits of a higher base. A superposition of multiple simultaneousquantum states before measurement represents a quantum bit (qubit). Asequence of one or more digits constitutes digital data that is used torepresent a number or code for a character. In some embodiments,information called analog data is represented by a near continuum ofmeasurable values within a particular range. Computer system 1500, or aportion thereof, constitutes a means for performing one or more steps ofproviding a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network.

A bus 1510 includes one or more parallel conductors of information sothat information is transferred quickly among devices coupled to the bus1510. One or more processors 1502 for processing information are coupledwith the bus 1510.

A processor (or multiple processors) 1502 performs a set of operationson information as specified by computer program code related toproviding a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network. Thecomputer program code is a set of instructions or statements providinginstructions for the operation of the processor and/or the computersystem to perform specified functions. The code, for example, may bewritten in a computer programming language that is compiled into anative instruction set of the processor. The code may also be writtendirectly using the native instruction set (e.g., machine language). Theset of operations include bringing information in from the bus 1510 andplacing information on the bus 1510. The set of operations alsotypically include comparing two or more units of information, shiftingpositions of units of information, and combining two or more units ofinformation, such as by addition or multiplication or logical operationslike OR, exclusive OR (XOR), and AND. Each operation of the set ofoperations that can be performed by the processor is represented to theprocessor by information called instructions, such as an operation codeof one or more digits. A sequence of operations to be executed by theprocessor 1502, such as a sequence of operation codes, constituteprocessor instructions, also called computer system instructions or,simply, computer instructions. Processors may be implemented asmechanical, electrical, magnetic, optical, chemical or quantumcomponents, among others, alone or in combination.

Computer system 1500 also includes a memory 1504 coupled to bus 1510.The memory 1504, such as a random access memory (RAM) or any otherdynamic storage device, stores information including processorinstructions for providing a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hocmesh network. Dynamic memory allows information stored therein to bechanged by the computer system 1500. RAM allows a unit of informationstored at a location called a memory address to be stored and retrievedindependently of information at neighboring addresses. The memory 1504is also used by the processor 1502 to store temporary values duringexecution of processor instructions. The computer system 1500 alsoincludes a read only memory (ROM) 1506 or any other static storagedevice coupled to the bus 1510 for storing static information, includinginstructions, that is not changed by the computer system 1500. Somememory is composed of volatile storage that loses the information storedthereon when power is lost. Also coupled to bus 1510 is a non-volatile(persistent) storage device 1508, such as a magnetic disk, optical diskor flash card, for storing information, including instructions, thatpersists even when the computer system 1500 is turned off or otherwiseloses power.

Information, including instructions for providing a publish/subscribemechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network, is provided to the bus 1510 foruse by the processor from an external input device 1512, such as akeyboard containing alphanumeric keys operated by a human user, or asensor. A sensor detects conditions in its vicinity and transforms thosedetections into physical expression compatible with the measurablephenomenon used to represent information in computer system 1500. Otherexternal devices coupled to bus 1510, used primarily for interactingwith humans, include a display device 1514, such as a cathode ray tube(CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED)display, an organic LED (OLED) display, a plasma screen, or a printerfor presenting text or images, and a pointing device 1516, such as amouse, a trackball, cursor direction keys, or a motion sensor, forcontrolling a position of a small cursor image presented on the display1514 and issuing commands associated with graphical elements presentedon the display 1514. In some embodiments, for example, in embodiments inwhich the computer system 1500 performs all functions automaticallywithout human input, one or more of external input device 1512, displaydevice 1514 and pointing device 1516 is omitted.

In the illustrated embodiment, special purpose hardware, such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 1520, is coupled to bus1510. The special purpose hardware is configured to perform operationsnot performed by processor 1502 quickly enough for special purposes.Examples of ASICs include graphics accelerator cards for generatingimages for display 1514, cryptographic boards for encrypting anddecrypting messages sent over a network, speech recognition, andinterfaces to special external devices, such as robotic arms and medicalscanning equipment that repeatedly perform some complex sequence ofoperations that are more efficiently implemented in hardware.

Computer system 1500 also includes one or more instances of acommunications interface 1570 coupled to bus 1510. Communicationinterface 1570 provides a one-way or two-way communication coupling to avariety of external devices that operate with their own processors, suchas printers, scanners and external disks. In general the coupling iswith a network link 1578 that is connected to a local network 1580 towhich a variety of external devices with their own processors areconnected. For example, communication interface 1570 may be a parallelport or a serial port or a universal serial bus (USB) port on a personalcomputer. In some embodiments, communications interface 1570 is anintegrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a digital subscriberline (DSL) card or a telephone modem that provides an informationcommunication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. Insome embodiments, a communication interface 1570 is a cable modem thatconverts signals on bus 1510 into signals for a communication connectionover a coaxial cable or into optical signals for a communicationconnection over a fiber optic cable. As another example, communicationsinterface 1570 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a datacommunication connection to a compatible LAN, such as Ethernet. Wirelesslinks may also be implemented. For wireless links, the communicationsinterface 1570 sends or receives or both sends and receives electrical,acoustic or electromagnetic signals, including infrared and opticalsignals, that carry information streams, such as digital data. Forexample, in wireless handheld devices, such as mobile telephones likecell phones, the communications interface 1570 includes a radio bandelectromagnetic transmitter and receiver called a radio transceiver. Incertain embodiments, the communications interface 1570 enablesconnection to the communication network 105 for providing apublish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network to the UE 101.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing information to processor 1502, includinginstructions for execution. Such a medium may take many forms,including, but not limited to computer-readable storage medium (e.g.,non-volatile media, volatile media), and transmission media.Non-transitory media, such as non-volatile media, include, for example,optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 1508. Volatile mediainclude, for example, dynamic memory 1504. Transmission media include,for example, twisted pair cables, coaxial cables, copper wire, fiberoptic cables, and carrier waves that travel through space without wiresor cables, such as acoustic waves and electromagnetic waves, includingradio, optical and infrared waves. Signals include man-made transientvariations in amplitude, frequency, phase, polarization or otherphysical properties transmitted through the transmission media. Commonforms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, aflexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, aCD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape,optical mark sheets, any other physical medium with patterns of holes orother optically recognizable indicia, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer canread. The term computer-readable storage medium is used herein to referto any computer-readable medium except transmission media.

Logic encoded in one or more tangible media includes one or both ofprocessor instructions on a computer-readable storage media and specialpurpose hardware, such as ASIC 1520.

Network link 1578 typically provides information communication usingtransmission media through one or more networks to other devices thatuse or process the information. For example, network link 1578 mayprovide a connection through local network 1580 to a host computer 1582or to equipment 1584 operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). ISPequipment 1584 in turn provides data communication services through thepublic, world-wide packet-switching communication network of networksnow commonly referred to as the Internet 1590.

A computer called a server host 1592 connected to the Internet hosts aprocess that provides a service in response to information received overthe Internet. For example, server host 1592 hosts a process thatprovides information representing video data for presentation at display1514. It is contemplated that the components of system 1500 can bedeployed in various configurations within other computer systems, e.g.,host 1582 and server 1592.

At least some embodiments of the invention are related to the use ofcomputer system 1500 for implementing some or all of the techniquesdescribed herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, thosetechniques are performed by computer system 1500 in response toprocessor 1502 executing one or more sequences of one or more processorinstructions contained in memory 1504. Such instructions, also calledcomputer instructions, software and program code, may be read intomemory 1504 from another computer-readable medium such as storage device1508 or network link 1578. Execution of the sequences of instructionscontained in memory 1504 causes processor 1502 to perform one or more ofthe method steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hardware,such as ASIC 1520, may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the inventionare not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software,unless otherwise explicitly stated herein.

The signals transmitted over network link 1578 and other networksthrough communications interface 1570, carry information to and fromcomputer system 1500. Computer system 1500 can send and receiveinformation, including program code, through the networks 1580, 1590among others, through network link 1578 and communications interface1570. In an example using the Internet 1590, a server host 1592transmits program code for a particular application, requested by amessage sent from computer 1500, through Internet 1590, ISP equipment1584, local network 1580 and communications interface 1570. The receivedcode may be executed by processor 1502 as it is received, or may bestored in memory 1504 or in storage device 1508 or any othernon-volatile storage for later execution, or both. In this manner,computer system 1500 may obtain application program code in the form ofsignals on a carrier wave.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequence of instructions or data or both to processor 1502 forexecution. For example, instructions and data may initially be carriedon a magnetic disk of a remote computer such as host 1582. The remotecomputer loads the instructions and data into its dynamic memory andsends the instructions and data over a telephone line using a modem. Amodem local to the computer system 1500 receives the instructions anddata on a telephone line and uses an infra-red transmitter to convertthe instructions and data to a signal on an infra-red carrier waveserving as the network link 1578. An infrared detector serving ascommunications interface 1570 receives the instructions and data carriedin the infrared signal and places information representing theinstructions and data onto bus 1510. Bus 1510 carries the information tomemory 1504 from which processor 1502 retrieves and executes theinstructions using some of the data sent with the instructions. Theinstructions and data received in memory 1504 may optionally be storedon storage device 1508, either before or after execution by theprocessor 1502.

FIG. 16 illustrates a chip set or chip 1600 upon which an embodiment ofthe invention may be implemented. Chip set 1600 is programmed to providea publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network as describedherein and includes, for instance, the processor and memory componentsdescribed with respect to FIG. 15 incorporated in one or more physicalpackages (e.g., chips). By way of example, a physical package includesan arrangement of one or more materials, components, and/or wires on astructural assembly (e.g., a baseboard) to provide one or morecharacteristics such as physical strength, conservation of size, and/orlimitation of electrical interaction. It is contemplated that in certainembodiments the chip set 1600 can be implemented in a single chip. It isfurther contemplated that in certain embodiments the chip set or chip1600 can be implemented as a single “system on a chip.” It is furthercontemplated that in certain embodiments a separate ASIC would not beused, for example, and that all relevant functions as disclosed hereinwould be performed by a processor or processors. Chip set or chip 1600,or a portion thereof, constitutes a means for performing one or moresteps of providing user interface navigation information associated withthe availability of functions. Chip set or chip 1600, or a portionthereof, constitutes a means for performing one or more steps ofproviding a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network.

In one embodiment, the chip set or chip 1600 includes a communicationmechanism such as a bus 1601 for passing information among thecomponents of the chip set 1600. A processor 1603 has connectivity tothe bus 1601 to execute instructions and process information stored in,for example, a memory 1605. The processor 1603 may include one or moreprocessing cores with each core configured to perform independently. Amulti-core processor enables multiprocessing within a single physicalpackage. Examples of a multi-core processor include two, four, eight, orgreater numbers of processing cores. Alternatively or in addition, theprocessor 1603 may include one or more microprocessors configured intandem via the bus 1601 to enable independent execution of instructions,pipelining, and multithreading. The processor 1603 may also beaccompanied with one or more specialized components to perform certainprocessing functions and tasks such as one or more digital signalprocessors (DSP) 1607, or one or more application-specific integratedcircuits (ASIC) 1609. A DSP 1607 typically is configured to processreal-world signals (e.g., sound) in real time independently of theprocessor 1603. Similarly, an ASIC 1609 can be configured to performedspecialized functions not easily performed by a more general purposeprocessor. Other specialized components to aid in performing theinventive functions described herein may include one or more fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGA) (not shown), one or more controllers(not shown), or one or more other special-purpose computer chips.

In one embodiment, the chip set or chip 1600 includes merely one or moreprocessors and some software and/or firmware supporting and/or relatingto and/or for the one or more processors.

The processor 1603 and accompanying components have connectivity to thememory 1605 via the bus 1601. The memory 1605 includes both dynamicmemory (e.g., RAM, magnetic disk, writable optical disk, etc.) andstatic memory (e.g., ROM, CD-ROM, etc.) for storing executableinstructions that when executed perform the inventive steps describedherein to provide a publish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc meshnetwork. The memory 1605 also stores the data associated with orgenerated by the execution of the inventive steps.

FIG. 17 is a diagram of exemplary components of a mobile terminal (e.g.,handset) for communications, which is capable of operating in the systemof FIG. 1, according to one embodiment. In some embodiments, mobileterminal 1701, or a portion thereof, constitutes a means for performingone or more steps of providing a publish/subscribe mechanism over anad-hoc mesh network. Generally, a radio receiver is often defined interms of front-end and back-end characteristics. The front-end of thereceiver encompasses all of the Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry whereasthe back-end encompasses all of the base-band processing circuitry. Asused in this application, the term “circuitry” refers to both: (1)hardware-only implementations (such as implementations in only analogand/or digital circuitry), and (2) to combinations of circuitry andsoftware (and/or firmware) (such as, if applicable to the particularcontext, to a combination of processor(s), including digital signalprocessor(s), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause anapparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform variousfunctions). This definition of “circuitry” applies to all uses of thisterm in this application, including in any claims. As a further example,as used in this application and if applicable to the particular context,the term “circuitry” would also cover an implementation of merely aprocessor (or multiple processors) and its (or their) accompanyingsoftware/or firmware. The term “circuitry” would also cover ifapplicable to the particular context, for example, a baseband integratedcircuit or applications processor integrated circuit in a mobile phoneor a similar integrated circuit in a cellular network device or othernetwork devices.

Pertinent internal components of the telephone include a Main ControlUnit (MCU) 1703, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 1705, and areceiver/transmitter unit including a microphone gain control unit and aspeaker gain control unit. A main display unit 1707 provides a displayto the user in support of various applications and mobile terminalfunctions that perform or support the steps of providing apublish/subscribe mechanism over an ad-hoc mesh network. The display1707 includes display circuitry configured to display at least a portionof a user interface of the mobile terminal (e.g., mobile telephone).Additionally, the display 1707 and display circuitry are configured tofacilitate user control of at least some functions of the mobileterminal. An audio function circuitry 1709 includes a microphone 1711and microphone amplifier that amplifies the speech signal output fromthe microphone 1711. The amplified speech signal output from themicrophone 1711 is fed to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 1713.

A radio section 1715 amplifies power and converts frequency in order tocommunicate with a base station, which is included in a mobilecommunication system, via antenna 1717. The power amplifier (PA) 1719and the transmitter/modulation circuitry are operationally responsive tothe MCU 1703, with an output from the PA 1719 coupled to the duplexer1721 or circulator or antenna switch, as known in the art. The PA 1719also couples to a battery interface and power control unit 1720.

In use, a user of mobile terminal 1701 speaks into the microphone 1711and his or her voice along with any detected background noise isconverted into an analog voltage. The analog voltage is then convertedinto a digital signal through the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)1723. The control unit 1703 routes the digital signal into the DSP 1705for processing therein, such as speech encoding, channel encoding,encrypting, and interleaving. In one embodiment, the processed voicesignals are encoded, by units not separately shown, using a cellulartransmission protocol such as enhanced data rates for global evolution(EDGE), general packet radio service (GPRS), global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS),universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), etc., as well as anyother suitable wireless medium, e.g., microwave access (WiMAX), LongTerm Evolution (LTE) networks, code division multiple access (CDMA),wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), wireless fidelity(WiFi), satellite, and the like, or any combination thereof.

The encoded signals are then routed to an equalizer 1725 forcompensation of any frequency-dependent impairments that occur duringtransmission though the air such as phase and amplitude distortion.After equalizing the bit stream, the modulator 1727 combines the signalwith a RF signal generated in the RF interface 1729. The modulator 1727generates a sine wave by way of frequency or phase modulation. In orderto prepare the signal for transmission, an up-converter 1731 combinesthe sine wave output from the modulator 1727 with another sine wavegenerated by a synthesizer 1733 to achieve the desired frequency oftransmission. The signal is then sent through a PA 1719 to increase thesignal to an appropriate power level. In practical systems, the PA 1719acts as a variable gain amplifier whose gain is controlled by the DSP1705 from information received from a network base station. The signalis then filtered within the duplexer 1721 and optionally sent to anantenna coupler 1735 to match impedances to provide maximum powertransfer. Finally, the signal is transmitted via antenna 1717 to a localbase station. An automatic gain control (AGC) can be supplied to controlthe gain of the final stages of the receiver. The signals may beforwarded from there to a remote telephone which may be another cellulartelephone, any other mobile phone or a land-line connected to a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), or other telephony networks.

Voice signals transmitted to the mobile terminal 1701 are received viaantenna 1717 and immediately amplified by a low noise amplifier (LNA)1737. A down-converter 1739 lowers the carrier frequency while thedemodulator 1741 strips away the RF leaving only a digital bit stream.The signal then goes through the equalizer 1725 and is processed by theDSP 1705. A Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) 1743 converts the signaland the resulting output is transmitted to the user through the speaker1745, all under control of a Main Control Unit (MCU) 1703 which can beimplemented as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) (not shown).

The MCU 1703 receives various signals including input signals from thekeyboard 1747. The keyboard 1747 and/or the MCU 1703 in combination withother user input components (e.g., the microphone 1711) comprise a userinterface circuitry for managing user input. The MCU 1703 runs a userinterface software to facilitate user control of at least some functionsof the mobile terminal 1701 to provide a publish/subscribe mechanismover an ad-hoc mesh network. The MCU 1703 also delivers a displaycommand and a switch command to the display 1707 and to the speechoutput switching controller, respectively. Further, the MCU 1703exchanges information with the DSP 1705 and can access an optionallyincorporated SIM card 1749 and a memory 1751. In addition, the MCU 1703executes various control functions required of the terminal. The DSP1705 may, depending upon the implementation, perform any of a variety ofconventional digital processing functions on the voice signals.Additionally, DSP 1705 determines the background noise level of thelocal environment from the signals detected by microphone 1711 and setsthe gain of microphone 1711 to a level selected to compensate for thenatural tendency of the user of the mobile terminal 1701.

The CODEC 1713 includes the ADC 1723 and DAC 1743. The memory 1751stores various data including call incoming tone data and is capable ofstoring other data including music data received via, e.g., the globalInternet. The software module could reside in RAM memory, flash memory,registers, or any other form of writable storage medium known in theart. The memory device 1751 may be, but not limited to, a single memory,CD, DVD, ROM, RAM, EEPROM, optical storage, magnetic disk storage, flashmemory storage, or any other non-volatile storage medium capable ofstoring digital data.

An optionally incorporated SIM card 1749 carries, for instance,important information, such as the cellular phone number, the carriersupplying service, subscription details, and security information. TheSIM card 1749 serves primarily to identify the mobile terminal 1701 on aradio network. The card 1749 also contains a memory for storing apersonal telephone number registry, text messages, and user specificmobile terminal settings.

While the invention has been described in connection with a number ofembodiments and implementations, the invention is not so limited butcovers various obvious modifications and equivalent arrangements, whichfall within the purview of the appended claims. Although features of theinvention are expressed in certain combinations among the claims, it iscontemplated that these features can be arranged in any combination andorder.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising facilitating a processing ofand/or processing (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at leastone signal, the (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at least onesignal based, at least in part, on the following: a request to eitherpublish or subscribe to information provided over an ad-hoc meshnetwork, wherein the request is transmitted, without a prior connection,as one or more broadcast messages with respect to distance, location,time, or a combination thereof; at least one data schema associated withthe information, wherein an identification of the information forpublication or subscription is based, at least in part, on the at leastone data schema; at least one query message from at least one subscriberto at least a portion of the information, the at least one query messagespecifying at least a target data schema and one or more filteringcriteria; a comparison of the target data schema against the at leastone data schema; a response message based, at least in part, on thecomparison; and a determination to use the at least one query message tocreate routing information for the response message, wherein theresponse message is relayed based, at least in part, on application ofthe filtering criteria with respect to the distance, the location, thetime, or a combination thereof.
 2. A method of claim 1, wherein the (1)data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at least one signal are furtherbased, at least in part, on the following: a determination to store theat least one schema, the information, or a combination thereof in atleast one valuespace local to at least one node of the ad-hoc meshnetwork; and a determination to cause, at least in part, the valuespaceto be available for subscription, querying, or a combination thereof byone or more other nodes of the ad-hoc mesh network.
 3. A method of claim1, wherein the (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at least onesignal are further based, at least in part, on the following: adetermination to delete the routing information after transmitting theresponse message, wherein the response message includes one or morepointers to content and excludes the content.
 4. A method of claim 1,wherein the (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at least onesignal are further based, at least in part, on the following: anapplication of the filtering criteria to the at least a portion of theinformation to selectively ignore the information to be published orsubscribed to, or to relay the information without storing theinformation therein.
 5. A method of claim 1, wherein the request is forsubscribing to the information, and wherein the (1) data and/or (2)information and/or (3) at least one signal are further based, at leastin part, on the following: at least one subscription query message, theat least one subscription query message specifying at least in part theat least one data schema; and a transmission of the subscription querymessage to one or more nodes of the ad-hoc mesh network.
 6. A method ofclaim 5, wherein the (1) data and/or (2) information and/or (3) at leastone signal are further based, at least in part, on the following: adetermination that there are one or more other messages to transmit overthe ad-hoc mesh network; wherein the transmission of the subscriptionquery message is coordinated with the one or more other messages.
 7. Amethod of claim 1, wherein the information relates to user profile dataassociated with at least one node of the ad-hoc mesh network, andwherein the request relates to publishing or subscribing to the userprofile data anonymously.
 8. A method of claim 7, wherein the (1) dataand/or (2) information and/or (3) at least one signal are further based,at least in part, on the following: recommendation information based, atleast in part, on collaborative context calculation of the user profiledata.
 9. A method of claim 5, wherein the information is encrypted torestrict access to a group of nodes.
 10. A method of claim 1, furthercomprising: generating a hash value for the at least one data schema,wherein the identification of the information is based, at least inpart, on the hash value.
 11. An apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor; and at least one memory including computer program code, theat least one memory and the computer program code configured to, withthe at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least thefollowing, receive a request to either publish or subscribe toinformation provided over an ad-hoc mesh network, wherein the request istransmitted, without a prior connection, as one or more broadcastmessages with respect to distance, location, time, or a combinationthereof; determine at least one data schema associated with theinformation, wherein an identification of the information forpublication or subscription is based, at least in part, on the at leastone data schema, receive at least one query message from at least onesubscriber to at least a portion of the information, the at least onequery message specifying at least a target data schema and one or morefiltering criteria; determine to compare the target data schema againstthe at least one data schema; determine to generate a response messagebased, at least in part, on the comparison; and determine to use the atleast one query message to create routing information for the responsemessage, wherein the response message is relayed based, at least inpart, on application of the filtering criteria with respect to thedistance, the location, the time, or a combination thereof.
 12. Anapparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:determine to store the at least one schema, the information, or acombination thereof in at least one valuespace local to at least onenode of the ad-hoc mesh network; and determine to cause, at least inpart, the valuespace to be available for subscription, querying, or acombination thereof by one or more other nodes of the ad-hoc meshnetwork.
 13. An apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is furthercaused to: determine to delete the routing information aftertransmitting the response message, wherein the response message includesone or more pointers to content and excludes the content.
 14. Anapparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:determine to apply the filtering criteria to the at least a portion ofthe information to selectively ignore the information to be published orsubscribed to, or to relay the information without storing theinformation therein.
 15. An apparatus of claim 11, wherein the requestis for subscribing to the information, and wherein the apparatus isfurther caused to: determine to generate at least one subscription querymessage, the at least one subscription query message specifying at leastin part the at least one data schema; and determine to transmit thesubscription query message to one or more nodes of the ad-hoc meshnetwork.
 16. An apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is furthercaused to: determine that there are one or more other messages totransmit over the ad-hoc mesh network; wherein the transmission of thesubscription query message is coordinated with the one or more othermessages.
 17. An apparatus of claim 11, wherein the information relatesto user profile data associated with at least one node of the ad-hocmesh network, and wherein the request relates to publishing orsubscribing to the user profile data anonymously.
 18. An apparatus ofclaim 17, wherein the apparatus is further caused to: determine togenerate recommendation information based, at least in part, oncollaborative context calculation of the user profile data.
 19. Anapparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is a mobile phone furthercomprising: user interface circuitry and user interface softwareconfigured to facilitate user control of at least some functions of themobile phone through use of a display and configured to respond to userinput; and a display and display circuitry configured to display atleast a portion of a user interface of the mobile phone, the display anddisplay circuitry configured to facilitate user control of at least somefunctions of the mobile phone.
 20. An apparatus of claim 19, wherein themobile phone includes a radio for device-to-device communication.